sia

Alternative forms

• siah, sial, siol

Etymology

From Malay sial.

Pronunciation

• (Singapore) IPA^(key): /sjɑː˧/, /-˨˧/, /sjɐ/, /sjə/

Particle

sia

1. (Singlish, Manglish) Tagged at the end of a sentence to express discontent, shock, exhaustion or exasperation.

   — If you can’t find your pencils, maybe someone stole them.
   — For what sia?

   • 2004, joshley, soc.culture.singapore (Usenet):

     […] Really disappointed siah […] The damage is done and no explanation will be accepted...... damn stupid!

   • 2015 May 14, @lawyizhuan, Twitter‎:

     Wah. Really damn shag [exhausting] sia, everyday. But I'm really glad to be able to contribute😄

   • 2020 January 14, Justin Vanderstraaten, quoting Moon, “Drugs, Cash, and Prison. When Does Enough Become Enough?”, in ricemedia.co‎, archived from the original on 26 February 2024:

     As soon as the sentence was handed down, I saw my Mum crying. I was given 5 minutes to talk to them and after that, I thought to myself what the fuck am I going to do sia! […]

   • 2023, Kristian-Marc James Paul, Myle Yan Tay, Mysara Aljaru, Brown is Redacted: Reflecting on Race in Singapore, Ethos Books, →ISBN:

     And we fucking panic sia. We kept saying, "No no no!" And they kept shouting […]

References

• Soh, Ying Qi, Lee, Junwen, Tan, Ying-Ying (2022) “Ethnicity and Tone Production on Singlish Particles”, in Languages, volume 7, number 3, →DOI

Anagrams

• ais, A.S.I., Asi, AIS, a-Si, is-a, Ais, sai, Isa, A.I.s, Isa., IAS, ISA, ASI, IAs, AIs, A. S. I.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈsi.ə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈsi.a]

Verb

sia

1. (archaic) inflection of ser:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

   Synonyms: sigui, siga

Conjunction

sia

1. whether it be; be it

   Synonym: siga

   • 1961, Joan Lluís, El meu Pallars: El Pallars Sobirà:

     Degotalls que s'estimballen des dels cingles fins al riu, i calmosament davallen, sia hivern o sia estiu.

     Stalactites that fling themselves from the cliffs into the river, and calmly descend, be it winter or be it summer.

   • 1975, Narcís Xifra i Riera, Montserrat, juliol de 1936:

     El cas és que posaren altre cop en pràctica allò de destruir tot el que havien fet els altres, ja sia bo o dolent, i es complagueren amb la revenja […]

     The thing is that they reimplemented that destruction of everything that others had made, whether it be good or bad, and they were pleased with revenge […]

Further reading

• “sia” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “sia”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “sia” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “sia” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Pronoun

sia

1. we (inclusive)

Adjective

sia

1. we are (inclusive)

Related terms

Noun

sia

1. water
2. river

References

• Duane A. Clouse, 1997, Toward a reconstruction and reclassification of the Lakes Plain languages of Irian Jaya, In Karl J. Franklin (ed.), Papers in Papuan linguistics No. 2, 133-236. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, page 172
• C. L. Voorhoeve, 1975. Languages of Irian Jaya Checklist, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, p.108

Etymology

si +‎ -a. Possibly under influence of Slavic (Polish swój, Russian свой (svoj), Belarusian свой (svoj)) and Germanic (German sein).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): [ˈsia]
• Rhymes: -ia
• Hyphenation: si‧a

Pronoun

sia (accusative singular sian, plural siaj, accusative plural siajn)

1. belonging to the subject of the sentence

   Johano donis al Alfredo sian kukon.

   John gave Alfred his (John's) cake.

   • 1910, L. L. Zamenhof, Proverbaro Esperanta:

     Sia estas kara pli ol la najbara.

     One's own is dearer than the neighbor's.

See also

Noun

sia

1. Archaic spelling of sija.

Verb

sia

1. to die

Verb

sia

1. imperative of esser

Conjunction

sia

1. whether (used the first time in a sentence)
2. or (used the second time in a sentence)

Etymology

From Old Irish sír.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ʃiə]

Adjective

sia

1. longer
2. further

References

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “sia”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “2 sía”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsi.a/
• Rhymes: -ia
• Hyphenation: sì‧a

Verb

sia

1. inflection of essere:
   1. first/second/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Conjunction

sia ... sia ...

1. both ... and ..
2. either ... or ..

Anagrams

• -asi, sai

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *Siwa.

Numeral

sia

1. nine

Noun

sia

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of sion

References

• sia in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “sia”, in Richard Stillwell et al., editor (1976), The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *siwa.

Numeral

sia

1. nine

Alternative forms

• siie (Mooring)
• See (Sylt)

Etymology

From Old Frisian sē, from Proto-West Germanic *saiwi. The distinction between “sea” (feminine) and “lake” (masculine) is based on German See, where it developed through mixing of Low and High German usages. Older North Frisian, like Middle Low German, had only the feminine. There may have been another word for “lake”, although the North Frisian region has no natural lakes of dimensions that would necessitate to distinguish them from ponds etc.

Noun

sia m (plural sian)

1. (Föhr-Amrum) lake

Noun

sia f (plural sian)

1. (Föhr-Amrum) sea

Etymology

From Norwegian dialectal sia, from Old Norse síðan. Compare Norwegian Nynorsk sidan.

Adverb

sia

1. Alternative form of siden

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²siːɑ/

Adverb

sia

1. (pre-2012) alternative form of sidan

Etymology

Along with siu (“she”), from Proto-Germanic *iz and *hiz.

Pronoun

sia

1. they

Alternative forms

• sie

Etymology

Along with siu (“she”), from Proto-Germanic *iz and *hiz.

Pronoun

sia m or f

1. she (accusative)
2. they

Alternative forms

• (Islay, South Argyll) sè

Etymology

From Old Irish sé, from Proto-Celtic *swexs, from Proto-Indo-European *swéḱs. Compare Irish sé, Manx shey.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʃia/

Numeral

sia

1. six

Mutation

References

• Edward Dwelly (1911) “sia”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎, 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 sé”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *-tíga.

Verb

sia

1. to leave

Etymology

From Old Swedish sīa, sēa, from Old Norse sjá, from Proto-Germanic *sehwaną.

Verb

sia (present siar, preterite siade, supine siat, imperative sia)

1. to foretell; to tell the future

Further reading

• siare in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

Anagrams

• Isa

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsi.a]

Verb

sia

1. (transitive) to draw water (from a well, etc.)
2. (transitive) to drag

References

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

Etymology

From Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *siwa, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *siwa, from Proto-Austronesian *Siwa.

Numeral

sia

1. nine

Etymology

From English chair.

Noun

sia

1. chair

Verb

sia

1. inflection of èser:
   1. first-person singular, third-person singular and third-person plural present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular and plural imperative