sa / さ
The first character of the S row — a crisp 'sa' that starts everyday words for alcohol, sugar, and salmon.
Pronunciation
The character さ represents the syllable 'sa', a soft 's' followed by 'a' as in 'father'. It is the first character of the さ-row. Take care not to confuse さ with き (which has an extra horizontal line) or ち (which has the curl on the opposite side).
さ opens the さ-column and shows up in essential nouns — 砂糖 (sugar), 茶 (tea, in cha-derivatives), 桜 (cherry blossom). It's also the first character of the polite-speech ending 〜ます in many verb stems. Doubled っさ in compounds, it sharpens into a held 's'.
How to write さ
Trace さ on the canvas at the top of the page. Animated arrows show each stroke's direction; trace along them and the stroke fills in. Each numbered step below explains what that stroke does.
A short horizontal stroke at the top — quick, slightly slanted, written left to right.
A long curved stroke that begins just below the top stroke on the left, drops down, sweeps gently around the bottom, and curls up and around to the right. This is what gives さ its distinctive open-hooked silhouette.
A short detached stroke on the lower right — a small curve or hook that completes the rightward motion of stroke 2. In some fonts this stroke is fused with the second; here we treat it as separate for clarity.
Origin
Hiragana さ evolved from the cursive form of the kanji 左 (sa) — meaning "left." The top horizontal preserves the kanji's first stroke; the long looping stroke flows from its lower body, while the small detached mark on the right is what's left of the kanji's bottom enclosure.
Common words starting with さ
Printable practice sheet
Print this worksheet to practice writing さ by hand — the top row shows the stroke order to trace, then fill the blank squares.
Lock it into memory
Reading is only half of it. Drill the hiragana you’ve learned with spaced-repetition flashcards — the fastest way to make them stick.