# ざ — hiragana “za”

ざ is the hiragana character for the sound “za”. It is written with 5 strokes, and in katakana the same sound is ザ.

- Reading: za
- Strokes: 5
- Katakana: ザ

## How ざ sounds

ざ is さ with dakuten (゛): sa becomes za.

## Words with ざ

| Word | Reading | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ざいさん | zaisan | property |
| ざんねん | zannen | regrettable |
| ざっし | zasshi | magazine |
| げんざい | genzai | the present |
| たいざい | taizai | stay |
| そんざい | sonzai | existence |

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From Moji Ninja (https://moji.ninja/), a free app for learning hiragana, katakana and the JLPT kanji from N5 to N1 with spaced repetition. Page: https://moji.ninja/hiragana-chart/za/. Last updated 2026-11-01.