さ

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See also: ち, き, ざ, さ゚, and ㄜ

さ U+3055, さ
HIRAGANA LETTER SA
← ご
 		Hiragana ざ →

Japanese

Stroke order
3 strokes

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

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

Syllable

さ • (sa) 

  1. The hiragana syllable さ (sa). Its equivalent in katakana is サ (sa). It is the eleventh syllable in the gojūon order; its position is さ行あ段 (sa-gyō a-dan, “row sa, section a”).
Derived terms
See also

Etymology 2

Cognate with し (shi).

Pronoun

さ • (sa) 

  1. third person personal pronoun; they
    • c. late 10th century Taketori Monogatari
      翁言ふやう、「御迎へに來む人をば、長き爪して、眼をつかみ潰さん。 さが髪をとりて、かなぐり落とさむ。さが尻をかき出でて、ここらの公人に見せて、恥を見せん」と腹立ちをる。
      (please add an English translation of this usage example)
See also

Etymology 3

From Old Japanese.

Suffix

さ • (-sa) 

  1. -ness
    綺(き)麗(れい)→綺(き)麗(れい)さ
    kirei→kireisa
    beautiful→beauty (na-adjective)
    悲(かな)しい→悲(かな)しさ
    kanashii→kanashisa
    sad→sadness (i-adjective)
Usage notes
  • Used with na-adjectives and i-adjectives.
  • Has a different connotation from み (-mi). See that entry for explanation.

References

  1. ^ Old Japanese -sa in Oxford-NINJAL Corpus of Old Japanese

Etymology 4

Particle

さ • (sa) 

  1. (dialectal Kanto, Tōhoku, Hokkaidō) sentence-ending particle indicating emphasis
  2. (colloquial, men's speech) sentence-ending particle indicating familiarity or assertion
    大(だい)丈(じょう)夫(ぶ)さ。気(き)にしないでくれ。
    Daijōbu sa. Ki ni shinai de kure.
    It's fine, don't worry about it.
  3. (informal) filler particle similar to ね (ne)
    それでさ、凄(すご)く怒(おこ)られたんだよ。
    Sore de sa, sugoku okorareta n da yo.
    Then, I really got yelled at.
Usage notes

As a male sentence-ending particle, less strong than ぞ (zo) or ぜ (ze).

Etymology 5

Pronunciation

Particle

さ • (sa) 

  1. (dialectal) to
    Synonyms: (standard Japanese) へ (e), (standard Japanese) に (ni)
    かっちゃさ電(でん)話(わ)しねば！
    Katcha sa denwa shineba!
    (Tsugaru) Gotta call mom!
    『俺(お)ら東(とう)京(きょう)さ行(い)ぐだ』
    “Ora Tōkyō sa Igu da”
    "I'm Goin' to Tokyo" (1984 song by Yoshi Ikuzō)

References

Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia