ぜ

See also: せ, せ゚, ㄝ, and 也

ぜ U+305C, ぜ HIRAGANA LETTER ZE Composition: せ [U+305B] + ◌゙ [U+3099] ← せ [U+305B] Hiragana そ → [U+305D]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [d͡ze̞]

Etymology 1

The hiragana character せ (se) with a dakuten (゛).

Syllable

ぜ • (ze) 

1. The hiragana syllable ぜ (ze). Its equivalent in katakana is ゼ (ze).

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

/zo e/ → /zoe/ → /zeː/ → /ze/

Shift via monophthongization of older ぞえ (zoe), in turn from sentence-ending emphatic particle ぞ (zo) and exclamatory or familiar particle え (e).

First dated to 1771. Usage became established in the Edo area, then spread to the Kansai region in the late 1700s.

With the softening effect of particle え (e), the sense was originally somewhat less gruff than using just ぞ (zo). However, in modern usage, this is now generally considered more gruff than ぞ (zo), and usage is restricted to informal masculine speech, either between members of the same group and status, or by a social superior to an inferior.

Particle

ぜ • (ze) 

1. [from 1771] (colloquial, men's speech) sentence-ending particle signifying emphasis, used to lightly press one's point, with familiar overtones

   困(こま)った奴(やつ)だぜ。

   Komatta yatsu da ze.

   What a troublesome guy.

2. [from 1771] (colloquial, men's speech) sentence-ending particle signifying emphasis, used to tell the listener about something in a patronising way

   そんなにケーキを食(た)べたら太(ふと)っちまうぜ。

   Sonna ni kēki o tabetara futotchimau ze.

   You'll get fat if you keep eating cake.

Usage notes

• Similar to ぞ (zo), ぜ is mostly used by men. However, unlike ぞ, ぜ is strictly informal register, and can be considered highly impolite if used outside of a casual setting.
• When used with polite-register forms like です (desu) and the ます (masu) verb ending, this may imply sarcasm, contempt, or threat.

Alternative forms

• (Kansai, Tohoku) で (de)
• (Internet slang) ず (zu)
• じぇ (je)

Etymology 3

Reading of various kanji.

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

【是】S [noun] right, justice

【前】2 [suffix] (rare) an honorific suffix added to a noun denoting a person

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