かしら - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

Apocopic shift from かしらん (ka shiran), in turn from か (ka, question particle: “if, whether, ?”) + しらぬ (shiranu, “to not know”, classical negative form of 知る (shiru, “to know”)). Literally means “don't know whether...”[1][2][3]

• IPA(key): [ka̠ ɕiɾa̠]

かしら • (ka shira)

1. (women's speech)
   1. [from 1896] I wonder
      彼(かれ)は怪(あや)しい人(ひと)かしら。
      Kare wa ayashii hito ka shira.
      I wonder if he's a suspicious person.
   2. [from roughly 1820s] interrogative particle
      ご存(ぞん)じかしら？
      Go zon ji ka shira?
      I wonder if you have heard of that? / Perhaps you've heard of that?
      誰(だれ)かしらあの家(いえ)に引(ひ)っ越(こ)してくるだろう。
      Dare ka shira ano ie ni hikkoshite kuru darō.
      Someone or other will probably move into that house.

• かしら (ka shira) is similar to かな (ka na), but is used more by women than by men. The I wonder sense always comes at the end.

1. ^ “かしら”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
2. ^ “かしら”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎[2] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
3. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN