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> ごくろうさん gokurousan 【ご苦労さん · 御苦労さん】
>
> expression meaning: I appreciate your efforts
>
> アリさん、今日もご苦労さんだよ。はい、角砂糖あげるよ。 Hi Mr Ant, keeping up the good work today as
> well. Here's a sugar cube.

ご is the honorific, 苦労 means trouble or hardships, but does the さん have the
same meaning of さま when it means "state"?
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2013-09-29T16:32:45.043
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2013-10-04T03:57:11.670
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question
words phrases
What is the meaning of さん in ごくろうさん?
This `さん` is the same one as adding it after someone's name. But a more polite
version is `ご苦労様【く・ろう・さま】`. Here it is being used in a familiar setting, so
they use `さん` instead. There are several topics on this site regarding `ご苦労様`,
so I suggest looking at those as well.

As far as meaning, `さん` _is_ a contraction of `さま`, but I don't believe
`さん・さま` being applied to someone's name was ever derived from / used for the
meaning of "state".
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2013-09-29T18:11:01.440
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answer
> but does the さん have the same meaning of さま when it means "state"?

You could say so. But its literal meaning is already lost and not felt by
native speakers anymore just like any other greeting and overly clichéd old
idiom.

If you do analyze the very literal meaning of ご苦労様, it would be

> "ご = preffix for politeness,"
>
> "苦労 = noun that means trouble/difficulties/whatever that require a lot of
> effort," and
>
> "様 = suffix for the sense of 'being in the state of.'"

By explicitly saying these words, you mean, in the most literal sense, "I
acknowledge that you have been in the state of having to put a lot of effort."

But, to be honest, it's just a fixed phrase you use when someone has just
finished some work. So, asking what 様 means here is like thinking of what
"there" means in "Hi, there." You may be able to find an interesting etymology
or explanation. But the literal meaning, if ever existed in the past, is
already lost. I'm not saying trivia, etymology, and stuff like that are not
interesting, though.

In any case, さん here is a much friendlier and less serious version of 様. So,
it sounds like the speaker doesn't acknowledge the trouble you've gone through
as seriously or appreciate the effort as sincerely as if they used 様. This
generally applies to other similar set phrases such as お疲れ様 vs. お疲れさん and
お待ち遠様 vs. お待ち遠さん. In all cases, さん is much more informal and less serious.
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2013-09-30T17:45:57.537
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2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer