せ

See also: ぜ, せ゚, ㄝ, 也, 𠃒, and 乜

せ U+305B, せ HIRAGANA LETTER SE ← ず [U+305A] Hiragana ぜ → [U+305C]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [se̞]

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 世 in the cursive sōsho style.

Syllable

せ • (se) 

1. The hiragana syllable せ (se). Its equivalent in katakana is セ (se). It is the fourteenth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is さ行え段 (sa-gyō e-dan, “row sa, section e”).

Derived terms

• ぜ (ze)

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of せ – see the following entries.

【背】6 [noun] one's back (part of the human body) [noun] one's height [noun] the rear of something, the area behind [noun] spine (of a book) Alternative spelling 脊

【諾お】S [interjection] (archaic) interjection expressing consent or agreement; yes, alright, okay Alternative spelling う

(This term, せ (se), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as せ, see Category:Japanese kanji read as せ.

Etymology 3

Alternative spelling
瀬

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [se̞]

• Audio:

  (file)

• (Tokyo) せ [sè] (Heiban – [0])
• (Tokyo) せ [séꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])

Noun

せ • (se) 

1. rapids, current

Etymology 4

Adverb

せ • (se) 

1. (Kansai) thus

   Synonym: (standard Japanese) そう

   せやな。

   Se ya na.

   That is so. ("You're right", etc.)

Etymology 5

Alternative spelling
畝

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [se̞]

• Audio:

  (file)

• (Tokyo) せ [séꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])

Noun

せ • (se) 

1. se (Japanese unit of area)

Usage notes

Different from the Chinese 畝 (ho, “mu”).