स

See also: म, स़, से, सु-, and स-

स U+0938, स DEVANAGARI LETTER SA ← ष [U+0937] Devanagari ह → [U+0939]

Translingual

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sə/ (may vary by language)

Letter

स (sa)

1. The third sibilant of the Devanagari script. Linguistically it is considered an alveolar sibilant.

See also

Ligatures:

• स्त्र (stra): स + त + र

Dhivehi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [s̺ə]

Letter

स • (sa)

1. The seventeenth consonant in Dhivehi, written in Devanagari

Hindi

Pronunciation

• (Delhi Hindi) IPA^(key): /sə/, [s̪ə]

Letter

स • (sa)

1. the thirty-second consonant in Hindi
2. (music) the first note of the Hindi musical scale

See also

• (Devanagari script letters) अ,‎ आ,‎ इ,‎ ई,‎ उ,‎ ऊ,‎ ऋ,‎ ए,‎ ऐ,‎ ओ,‎ औ,‎ अं,‎ अः,‎ अँ,‎ क,‎ ख,‎ ग,‎ घ,‎ ङ,‎ च,‎ छ,‎ ज,‎ झ,‎ ञ,‎ ट,‎ ठ,‎ ड,‎ ढ,‎ ण,‎ त,‎ थ,‎ द,‎ ध,‎ न,‎ प,‎ फ,‎ ब,‎ भ,‎ म,‎ य,‎ र,‎ ल,‎ व,‎ श,‎ ष,‎ स,‎ ह,‎ त्र,‎ ज्ञ,‎ क्ष,‎ क़,‎ ख़,‎ ग़,‎ ज़,‎ झ़,‎ ड़,‎ ढ़,‎ फ़ ^{(Category: Hindi letters) [edit]}

Konkani

Alternative forms

• सो (so)

Etymology

From Sanskrit षष् (ṣáṣ), from Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs (“six”). Cognate with Hindi छह (chah), Marathi सहा (sahā).

Numeral

स • (sa/so) (Latin script sov, Kannada script ಸ)

1. six

Marathi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sə/

• Audio

  (file)

Letter

स • (sa)

1. The thirty-first consonant in Marathi.

Nepali

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [sʌ]
• Phonetic Devanagari: स

Letter

स • (sa)

1. The thirty-second consonant in Nepali.

Pali

Alternative forms

Alternative forms

• sa (Latin script)
• 𑀲 (Brahmi script)
• স (Bengali script)
• ස (Sinhalese script)
• သ (Burmese script)
• ส or สะ (Thai script)
• ᩈ (Tai Tham script)
• ສ or ສະ (Lao script)
• ស (Khmer script)
• 𑄥 (Chakma script)

Alternative forms

• so (Latin script)
• 𑀲𑁄 (Brahmi script)
• सो (Devanagari script)
• সো (Bengali script)
• සො (Sinhalese script)
• သော or သေႃ (Burmese script)
• โส (Thai script)
• ᩈᩮᩣ (Tai Tham script)
• ໂສ (Lao script)
• សោ (Khmer script)
• 𑄥𑄮 (Chakma script)

Pronoun

स (sa)

1. Devanagari script form of sa

Adjective

स (sa)

1. Devanagari script form of sa, which is masculine nominative singular of त (ta, “that”)

Noun

स (sa)

1. Devanagari script form of sa, which is vocative singular of सन् (san, “dog”)

Sanskrit

Alternative scripts

Alternative scripts

• ᬲ (Balinese script)
• স (Assamese script)
• স (Bengali script)
• 𑰭 (Bhaiksuki script)
• 𑀲 (Brahmi script)
• 𑌸 (Grantha script)
• સ (Gujarati script)
• ਸ (Gurmukhi script)
• ꦱ (Javanese script)
• ស (Khmer script)
• ಸ (Kannada script)
• ສ (Lao script)
• സ (Malayalam script)
• 𑘭 (Modi script)
• ᠰᠠ᠋ (Mongolian script)
• ᠰᠠ (Manchu script)
• သ (Burmese script)
• 𑧍 (Nandinagari script)
• 𑐳 (Newa script)
• ସ (Oriya script)
• ꢱ (Saurashtra script)
• 𑆱 (Sharada script)
• 𑖭 (Siddham script)
• ස (Sinhalese script)
• స (Telugu script)
• ส (Thai script)
• ས (Tibetan script)
• 𑒮 (Tirhuta script)

Etymology 1

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /sɐ/
• (Classical) IPA^(key): /s̪ɐ/

• (Vedic) IPA^(key): /sɐ́/
• (Classical) IPA^(key): /s̪ɐ/

Letter

स • (sa)

1. the last of the three sibilants, /s/

Etymology 2

Noun

स • (sá) ?

1. (prosody) an anapest

Etymology 3

Noun

स • (sá) ?

1. (music) Abbreviation of षड्ज (ṣaḍ-ja).

Etymology 4

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

स • (sá) m

1. a snake
2. air, wind
3. a bird
4. name of Vishnu or Shiva

Declension

Masculine a-stem declension of स (sá)
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	सः sáḥ	सौ saú	साः / सासः¹ sā́ḥ / sā́saḥ¹
Vocative	स sá	सौ saú	साः / सासः¹ sā́ḥ / sā́saḥ¹
Accusative	सम् sám	सौ saú	सान् sā́n
Instrumental	सेन séna	साभ्याम् sā́bhyām	सैः / सेभिः¹ saíḥ / sébhiḥ¹
Dative	साय sā́ya	साभ्याम् sā́bhyām	सेभ्यः sébhyaḥ
Ablative	सात् sā́t	साभ्याम् sā́bhyām	सेभ्यः sébhyaḥ
Genitive	सस्य sásya	सयोः sáyoḥ	सानाम् sā́nām
Locative	से sé	सयोः sáyoḥ	सेषु séṣu
Notes	¹Vedic

Noun

स • (sa) n

1. knowledge
2. meditation
3. a carriage road
4. a fence

Declension

Neuter a-stem declension of स (sá)
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	सम् sám	से sé	सानि / सा¹ sā́ni / sā́¹
Vocative	स sá	से sé	सानि / सा¹ sā́ni / sā́¹
Accusative	सम् sám	से sé	सानि / सा¹ sā́ni / sā́¹
Instrumental	सेन séna	साभ्याम् sā́bhyām	सैः / सेभिः¹ saíḥ / sébhiḥ¹
Dative	साय sā́ya	साभ्याम् sā́bhyām	सेभ्यः sébhyaḥ
Ablative	सात् sā́t	साभ्याम् sā́bhyām	सेभ्यः sébhyaḥ
Genitive	सस्य sásya	सयोः sáyoḥ	सानाम् sā́nām
Locative	से sé	सयोः sáyoḥ	सेषु séṣu
Notes	¹Vedic

Etymology 5

From the root √सन् (√san, “to procure, bestow, give, distribute”).

Adjective

स • (sá)

1. procuring, bestowing (only at the end of a compound)

   पशुष (paśu-ṣá) — bestowing cattle

   प्रियस (priyá-sá) — granting desired objects

Etymology 6

From Proto-Indo-Aryan *sá, *sáH, *tád, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sá, *sáH, *tád, from Proto-Indo-European *só, *séh₂, *tód. Cognate with Ancient Greek ὁ (ho), ἡ (hē), τό (tó), Old Church Slavonic тъ (tŭ), та (ta), то (to), Old English se (whence English the). Compare also the suppletive-stem feminine and neuter forms सा (sā́), तद् (tád).

Pronoun

स • (sá) m

1. (distal, 3rd person pronoun) he
2. (masculine) that

Usage notes

The final s of the nominative m sás is dropped before all consonants (except before /p/ in RV. v, 2, 4, and before /t/ in RV. viii, 33, 16) and appears only at the end of a sentence in the form of visarga. sa occasionally blends with another vowel (as in saī*ṣaḥ) and it is often for emphasis connected with another pronoun as with अहम् (aham), त्वम् (tvam), एष (eṣa), अयम् (ayam) etc.

सो ऽहम्स त्वम् ― so ʼhamsa tvam ― I (or thou) that very person; cf. under तद् (tád)

The verb then following in the 1st and 2nd person even if aham or tvam be omitted

स त्वा पृच्छामि ― sa tvā pṛcchāmi ― I that very person ask you

स वै नो ब्रूहि ― sa vai no brūhi ― do thou tell us

Similarly, to denote emphasis, with भवान् (bhavān)

स भावन् विजयाय प्रतिष्ठताम् ― sa bhāvan vijayāya pratiṣṭhatām ― let your Highness set out for victory

It sometimes (and frequently in the Brāhmaṇas) stands as the first word of a sentence preceding a relatve pronoun or adverb such as य (ya), यद् (yad), यदि (yadi), यथा (yathā), चेद् (ce*d); in this position sa may be used pleonastically or as a kind of indeclinable, even where another gender or number is required

स यदि स्थावरा आपो भनन्ति ― sa yadi sthāvarā āpo bhananti ― if those waters are stagnant

In the Sāṃkhya sa, like एष (eṣa), क (ka), and य (ya), is used to denote पुरुष (puruṣa), "the Universal Soul".

The locative singular form सस्मिन् (sasmin) is primarily used in the Rigveda.

Declension

Declension of स
Nom. sg.	सः, स (saḥ, sa)
Gen. sg.	तस्य (tasya)
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	सः, स (saḥ, sa)	तौ (tau)	ते (te)
Vocative	—	—	—
Accusative	तम् (tam)	तौ (tau)	तान् (tān)
Instrumental	तेन (tena)	ताभ्याम् (tābhyām)	तैः (taiḥ)
Dative	तस्मै (tasmai)	ताभ्याम् (tābhyām)	तेभ्यः (tebhyaḥ)
Ablative	तस्मात्, ततः (tasmāt, tataḥ)	ताभ्याम् , ततः (tābhyām , tataḥ)	तेभ्यः, ततः (tebhyaḥ, tataḥ)
Genitive	तस्य (tasya)	तयोः (tayoḥ)	तेषाम् (teṣām)
Locative	तस्मिन्, सस्मिन् (tasmin, sasmin)	तयोः (tayoḥ)	तेषु (teṣu)

Descendants

• Garhwali: सु (su)
• Kashmiri: سُہ‎ (suh)
• Pali: so, sa (rare)
• Prakrit: 𑀲𑁄 (so)

Etymology 7

From Proto-Indo-European *sm̥- (“whole, all, together (with)”), from the root *sem-.

Prefix

स • (sa)

2. an inseparable prefix expressing "junction", "conjunction", "possession" (as opposed to a privative), "similarity", "equality"
3. when compounded with nouns to form adjectives and adverbs it may be translated by "with", "together or along with", "accompanied by", "added to", "having", "possessing", "containing", "having the same"

   सकोप (sa-kopa) — full of anger, enraged, displeased

   साग्नि (sā*gni) — together with the fire

   सभार्य (sa-bhārya) — with a wife, having a wife

   सद्रोण (sa-droṇa) — with a droṇa added to a droṇa

   सधर्मन् (sa-dharman) — having the same duties

   सवर्ण (sa-varṇa) — having the same colour or appearance, similar, like

4. "-ly"

   सकोपम् (sa-kopam) — angrily

   सोपधि (so*padhi) — fraudulently

Derived terms

• Sanskrit terms prefixed with स-

References

• Monier Williams (1899), “स”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 1111.