かしら

Japanese

Etymology 1

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]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [ka̠ ɕiɾa̠]

Particle

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.
Usage notes
  • 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.

References
  1. “かしら”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”)‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000
  2. “かしら”, in デジタル大辞泉 [Digital Daijisen]‎ (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, updated roughly every four months
  3. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Etymology 2
For pronunciation and definitions of かしら – see the following entry.
【頭】2
[counter] a head, as when counting people, or cattle or other livestock
[noun] 頭: the head as a whole
[noun] 頭: boss, leader
[noun] 頭: top part of a Chinese character
[noun] 頭, 首: the head of a doll
Alternative spelling
首
(This term, かしら, is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)
For a list of all kanji read as かしら, see Category:Japanese kanji read as かしら.)
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