Colloquial Variant guide

-sama

suffix · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

suffix

Meaning 1

Appended to a person's name or nickname to convey honour and respect.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: morpheme, slang

Topics: anime, broadcasting, comics, film, lifestyle, literature, manga, media, publishing, television

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese さま (-sama).

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 樣 /样 (-yàng) — nominal affix indicating respect
  • Japanese: 様 (-sama) — nominal affix indicating respect
  • Russian: -сама (-sama) — nominal affix indicating respect