し

See also: じ [U+3058 HIRAGANA LETTER ZI], レ [U+30EC KATAKANA LETTER RE], 乚 [U+4E5A CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4E5A], and ᘂ [U+1602 CANADIAN SYLLABICS CARRIER NU]

し	U+3057, し HIRAGANA LETTER SI

← ざ
[U+3056]

Hiragana

じ →
[U+3058]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ɕi]
Audio: (file)

Etymology 1

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

Syllable

し • (shi)

The hiragana syllable し (shi). Its equivalent in katakana is シ (shi). It is the twelfth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is さ行い段 (sa-gyō i-dan, “row sa, section i”).

Derived terms

しゃ (sha), しゅ (shu), しょ (sho)
じ (ji)

Etymology 2

Particle

し • (shi)

conjunctive particle, separates items in a list of reasons
- 1937, Yumeno Kyūsaku, Osoroshii Tōkyō [Terrifying Tokyo]‎^[1]:
  
  見(み)渡(わた)す限(かぎ)り百(ひゃっ)貨(か)店(てん)みたいで、何処(どこ)で切(きっ)符(ぷ)を売(う)っているのかわからないし、プラットフォームらしいものもないので、間(まち)違(が)ったのかなと思(おも)って又(また)石(いし)段(だん)を上(のぼ)って見(み)ると、丸(まる)キリ知(し)らない繁(はん)華(か)な町(まち)である。
  Miwatasu kagiri hyakkaten mitai de, doko de kippu o utteiru no ka wakaranai shi, purattofōmu rashii mono mo nai no de, machigatta no ka na to omotte mata ishidan o nobottemiruto, marukiri shiranai hanka na machi de aru.
  What I could see looked like a department store, I had no idea where tickets were being sold, and there wasn't anything like a platform. Wondering if I haven't come to the wrong place I once again walked up the stone stairs and a bustling street I wasn't familiar with filled my vision.
- K-On!
  「でもでも、私(わたし)運(うん)動(どう)音(おん)痴(ち)だし、文(ぶん)化(か)系(けい)のクラブもよくわからないし…」
  “Demo demo, watashi undō onchi da shi, bunkakei no kurabu mo yoku wakaranai shi…”
  "But—but I'm terrible at sports and I don't really know anything about the cultural clubs…"
sentence-ending particle, indicating mild emphasis, and alluding to an inferable but deliberately omitted conclusion
てかなんでやったし。
Te ka nande yatta shi.
But then, why did you do that [when you shouldn't have]?

Etymology 3

Alternative spellings
此是之維惟

Cognate with demonstrative pronoun そ (so).

Pronoun

し • (shi)

third person personal pronoun; he, she, it
- c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 5, poem 904:
  夕星乃由布弊尓奈礼婆伊射祢余登手乎多豆佐波里父母毛表者奈佐我利三枝之中尓乎祢牟登愛久志我可多良倍婆
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 19, poem 4191:
  鵜河立取左牟安由能之我波多波吾等尓可伎无気念之念婆
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 19, poem 4254:
  八隅知之吾大皇秋花之我色々尓見賜明米多麻比酒見附榮流今日之安夜尓貴左
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
reflexive pronoun; one, oneself
- c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 18, poem 4094:
  八十伴雄乎麻都呂倍乃牟気乃麻尓々々老人毛女童児毛之我願心太良比尓撫賜治賜婆
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- c. 935: Tosa Nikki (day 24)
  廿四日。講師、むまのはなむけしにいでませり。ありとあるかみしも、わらはまでゑひしれて、一文字をだにしらぬもの、しがあしは十文字にふみてぞあそぶ。
  (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- c. late 10th century: Ochikubo Monogatari (Volume 1)
  あなわかわかしの晝寢や。しが身のほど知らぬこそいと心憂けれ」とて、うちあざわらひ給ふ。
  (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Etymology 4

Various Chinese loanwords.

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

【四】1	[numeral] four, 4 [noun] the fourth [affix] four [affix] fourth [affix] quadruple [affix] here and there

【詩】3	[noun] poem [noun] verse of poetry [noun] (poetry) Chinese poetry [noun] Short for 詩経 (“Shijing, the Book of Odes”).

【死】3

[noun] death

[noun] (law, historical) one of the five punishments under the 律令 (Ritsuryō) system, the methods used are 絞 (kō, “strangling”) and 斬 (zan, “decapitation”)

[affix] death, to die

[affix] dead, unfunctional

[affix] life-or-death situation

[affix] dangerous, life-threatening

[affix] (baseball) out

【師】5	[noun] teacher, Reverend

【仕】3	[noun] official, civil service [verb] Alternative spelling of し (shi, continuative of する (suru))

【市】2	[suffix] city

【氏】4	[noun] a family, a clan [noun] a certain person [suffix] (honorific) Mr.; Ms.

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

Etymology 5

Suffix

し • (-shi)

(Classical Japanese or literary) the adnominal form of Classical and Old Japanese き (ki, past tense auxiliary), equivalent to modern た
選(えら)ばれし者(もの)
erabareshi mono
the chosen one (modern language)
- 1994, “春よ、来い”, 松任谷由実 (lyrics), 松任谷由実 (music), performed by 松任谷由実:
  
  瞼(まぶた)閉(と)じればそこに　愛(あい)をくれし君(きみ)の　なつかしき声(こえ)がする
  mabuta tojireba soko ni ai o kureshi kimi no natsukashiki koe ga suru
  When I close my eyelids, I hear by my side the voice of beloved you who gave me love (modern language)

Etymology 6

From Old Japanese. Not productive in modern usage.

Suffix

し • (-shi)

(Classical Japanese) The 終止形 (shūshikei, “terminal or predicative form”) of the conjugable ending for 形容詞 (keiyōshi, “-i adjectives”).

Usage notes

In Classical and Old Japanese, this is the terminal ending for both しく (shiku) adjectives (those ending in しい (-shii) in modern usage, such as 楽しい (tanoshii, “fun”)) and く (ku) adjectives (those ending in い (-i) in modern usage, such as 高い (takai, “high, tall; expensive”)).
Meanwhile, in modern Japanese, the terminal ending and adnominal ending both manifest as い (i).

Examples:

Classical Terminal	Classical Adnominal	Modern Terminal / Adnominal
楽(たの)し (tanoshi) 高(たか)し (takashi)	楽(たの)しき (tanoshiki) 高(たか)き (takaki)	楽(たの)しい (tanoshii) 高(たか)い (takai)

Many Japanese adjectives were formed by appending this suffix to nouns, for example 大人 (otona, “adult”) +‎ し (-shi) makes Classical 大人(おとな)し (otonashi, modern form 大人(おとな)しい (otonashii)).

Conjugation

Classical conjugation of "し" (ク活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形)	く^[1] から^[2]	ku kara
Continuative (連用形)	く^[1] かり^[2]	ku kari
Terminal (終止形)	し	si
Attributive (連体形)	きかる	ki karu
Realis (已然形)	けれ	kere
Imperative (命令形)	かれ	kare
Key constructions
Negative	からず	karazu
Contrasting conjunction	けれど	keredo
Causal conjunction	ければ	kereba
Conditional conjunction	くば	kuba
Past tense (firsthand knowledge)	かりき	kariki
Past tense (secondhand knowledge)	かりけり	karikeri
Adverbial	く	ku
^[1]Without auxiliary verb. ^[2]With auxiliary verb.

Classical conjugation of "し" (シク活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形)	しく^[1] しから^[2]	siku sikara
Continuative (連用形)	しく^[1] しかり^[2]	siku sikari
Terminal (終止形)	し	si
Attributive (連体形)	しきしかる	siki sikaru
Realis (已然形)	しけれ	sikere
Imperative (命令形)	しかれ	sikare
Key constructions
Negative	しからず	sikarazu
Contrasting conjunction	しけれど	sikeredo
Causal conjunction	しければ	sikereba
Conditional conjunction	しくば	sikuba
Past tense (firsthand knowledge)	しかりき	sikariki
Past tense (secondhand knowledge)	しかりけり	sikarikeri
Adverbial	しく	siku
^[1]Without auxiliary verb. ^[2]With auxiliary verb.

Etymology 7

Alternative spellings
為 (rare) 仕 (in compounds)

Verb

し • (shi)

stem or continuative form of する (suru)

References

Fujii, Sadakazu with Keiji Inaga (1989) Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 18: Ochikubo Monogatari, Sumiyoshi Monogatari (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN
Hasegawa, Masaharu with Yūichirō Imanishi, Hiroshi Itō, Hiroshi Yoshioka (1989) Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 24: Tosa Nikki, Kagerō Nikki, Murasaki Shikibu Nikki, Sarashina Nikki (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN
Satake, Akihiro with Hideo Yamada, Rikio Kudō, Masao Ōtani, and Yoshiyuki Yamazaki (c. 759) Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 1: Man’yōshū 1 (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, published 1999, →ISBN.
Satake, Akihiro with Hideo Yamada, Rikio Kudō, Masao Ōtani, and Yoshiyuki Yamazaki (c. 759) Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 4: Man’yōshū 4 (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, published 2003, →ISBN.

Okinawan

Etymology

Cognate with Kikai す (-su, “person”, Onotsu dialect), Yoron し (shi).

Perhaps cognate with *-su, a bird-related element found in nouns such as がらし (garashi, “crow”), Japanese 烏 (karasu). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

(Ryūka) IPA^(key): [si]

Noun

し (shi)

person; someone (general)
- 1531-1623, Omoro Sōshi
  うぶだまはいのる　すど　よかける
  ubudama ya inoru su do yogakeru
  The present-giving globe is something that prays; it rules the world.
- Ryūka Zenshū
  づりも呼びゆ　す　がど　親の　孝も　しゆゆる　酒も　飲みゆ　す　がど　元祖　継ぎゆる
  dzurimo YObyu su gado OYA no KO mo shuyuru SAKE mo NOmyu su gado GWANSO TSUgyuru
  dzirin yubyu si gadu uya nu ko n shuyuru saki n numyu si gadu gwansu tujuru
  Even if some prostitute invites me over, even for my parents, even if I drank some kind of sake, I would succeed my ancestry...

Suffix

し or すぃ (-shi)

the act of doing

References

Okinawa Kogo Daijiten Henshū I'inkai (沖縄古語大辞典編集委員会) (1995) 沖縄古語大辞典 [Dictionary of Archaic Okinawan], Tokyo (東京都): Kadokawa Shoten (角川書店), →ISBN, page 350

Yoron

Etymology

Cognate with Kikai す (-su, “person”, Onotsu dialect), Okinawan し (shi).

Perhaps cognate with *-su, a bird-related element found in nouns such as がらし (garashi, “crow”), Japanese 烏 (karasu). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

(Mugiya Higashi-ku) IPA^(key): [ɕi]

Noun

し (shi)

person; someone who does [...]
1. a person who is involved in the preceding subject
  むーる　が　し
  mūru ga shi
  person involved with everyone
  - あまなん　あいさー　ぴちゅ　ぬ　し
    amanan aisā pichu nu shi
    a person of a stranger over there
2. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
  たーし、　うれーたーし
  tāshi, urētāshi
  Something belonging to who; something belonging to you
  
  うりゃー　わーし　でーる
  uryā wāshi dēru
  That belongs to me.
  (literally, “Those are my belongings.”)
  
  こーりゅーし
  kōryūshi
  something edible
  
  ちゅらさし　とぅゆん
  churasashi tuyun
  To take something pretty

References

Kiku, Chiyo, Takahashi, Toshizō (2005) 与論方言辞典 [Yoron Dialect Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: Musashinoshoin