1219
Today I saw onigiri claiming to contain "しゃけ" (shake). When I asked my friend
what that was, she said it was the same as "さけ" (sake), "salmon".

So are these two just different readings of a kanji, regional differences,
used by different generations, etc? How did the two pronunciations come about?
Which should I use?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-15T15:22:56.863
1217
2018-10-01T23:52:25.797
2016-09-23T20:01:27.827
5229
125
question
word-choice etymology synonyms food animals
What's the difference between "さけ" (sake) and "しゃけ" (shake)?
This answer from another site claims that しゃけ is an accent difference in
Saitama, Chiba, Shizuoka (basically Kantou).

<http://oshiete.goo.ne.jp/qa/11481.html>

But, when I did a part-time job at an 居酒屋(いざかや) during my college time in 四国
(Shikoku - not in Kantou region) around 2005, some people used しゃけ. I didn't
know the meaning at that time, and some people smiled and told me that it is
the same as さけ and told me some people use it.

And some use しゃけ to differentiate from 酒(さけ) "alcohol", according to another
answer on that Q & A page.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-15T15:43:56.313
1218
2014-06-13T02:41:57.987
2014-06-13T02:41:57.987
3437
100
1217
answer
Both さけ and しゃけ mean salmon and are written as 鮭 in kanji (but I will avoid
using this kanji in this answer for an obvious reason). As far as I know,
there is no difference in meaning, but some people seem to distinguish the two
words in meanings (see below).

According to a [webpage](http://www.food.maruha-
nichiro.co.jp/salmon/faq/index.html#q11) by Maruha Nichiro Foods, Inc., the
Kōjien dictionary lists the word しゃけ as a variation of the word さけ with the
same meaning. The webpage also states that there is no obvious geographical
tendency between the use of さけ and しゃけ.

According to [this
page](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1211008052) and
[this page](http://nhg.pro.tok2.com/qa/hatsuon4.htm), some people distinguish
the two words, in which case さけ means living or raw salmon and しゃけ means
cooked salmon. I had never heard of this distinction personally, and I doubt
that many people distinguish the use of the two words.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-15T15:48:00.353
1219
2011-06-15T23:18:39.563
2011-06-15T23:18:39.563
15
15
1217
answer
[Wikipedia](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B5%E3%82%B1) has this to say:
(I omitted some parts)

> 「シャケ」[...] それを食品用に加工したものを「シャケ」だという見解もある一方で

->Vulgar translation:

「シャケ」 is used when talking about salmon processed to become food.

> 江戸時代の江戸では「はひふへほ・さしすせそ」の発音が苦手だった為、訛って「シャケ」になったという説もある

(Only a theory atm, no source to support it) In Edo period, 「はひふへほ・さしすせそ」 were
considered low standard so 「シャケ」 became 「さけ」

The food thing makes sense in my opinion but I've personally only used and
heard サーモン
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-06-15T15:50:47.157
1220
2011-06-15T16:34:16.980
2011-06-15T16:34:16.980
1217
answer
Part of the variance, and the confusion, arises from the fact that this word
is not native to Japanese -- this was originally a borrowing from Ainu. The
Ainu term for _salmon_ is variously _sak ipe_ , _sak ibe_ , _shak embe_ ,
depending on dialect, and apparently both the _s-_ and _sh-_ beginnings were
borrowed into Japanese. Modern Hokkaido Ainu seems to use _sak ipe_ ,
literally "summer + food" in reference to the salmon fishing season.

As others have noted, it is sometimes advisable to use the _shake_ variant in
Japanese to avoid potential confusion with 酒{さけ}.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-22T23:18:51.627
39412
2016-09-22T23:18:51.627
5229
1217
answer