Japanese

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Etymology 1

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Apocopic shift from かしらん (ka shiran), in turn from (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

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Particle

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かしら (ka shira

  1. (women's speech)
    1. [from 1896] I wonder
      (かれ)(あや)しい(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
      (ぞん)かしら
      Go zon ji ka shira?
      I wonder if you have heard of that? / Perhaps you've heard of that?
      (だれ)かしらあの(いえ)()()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
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  • 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

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  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

Etymology 2

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For pronunciation and definitions of かしら – see the following entry.
2
[counter] a head, as when counting people, or cattle or other livestock
[noun] : the head as a whole
[noun] : boss, leader
[noun] : top part of a Chinese character
[noun] , : the head of a doll
Alternative spelling
(This term, かしら (kashira), 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.)
  NODES
eth 2
see 2