စာ

• IPA^(key): /sà/
• Romanization: MLCTS: ca • ALA-LC: cā • BGN/PCGN: sa • Okell: sa

Probably from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tsa ~ za (though this is not mentioned by STEDT). Cognate with သား (sa:, “son, child”), စာ (ca, “to sympathise with; to be considerate to; to have consideration for”). Compare Old Chinese 子 (OC *ʔslɯʔ, “child”), 字 (OC *zlɯs, “to bear; to give birth; to breed; to love; Chinese character”); see the latter for more.

Another theory by Luce compares the word to 寫 (OC *sjaːʔ, “to carry, write, copy”).^[1]

စာ • (ca) (classifier ရွက် or လုံး or ပုဒ်)

1. writing
2. (in compounds) written language

   ဗမာစာ/မြန်မာစာ ― ba.maca/mranmaca ― (written) Burmese

   အင်္ဂလိပ်စာ ― angga.lipca ― (written) English

3. letter (written or printed communication)
4. writing or works
5. poetry, verse
6. lessons (for study)
7. birthmark

Inherited from Proto-Tibeto-Burman *m-tsa (“sparrow”). Compare Old Chinese 雀 (OC *ʔsewɢ, “sparrow”) and 鵲 (OC *sʰaɡ, “magpie”) (STEDT).

The "shrill" sense is likely a semantic extension of the "sparrow" sense, via "to chirp like a sparrow" > "to be shrill" (supported by MED), though this is disputed (based on STEDT not linking the entry "ca 'shrill ( obs. )'" to the root page).

စာ • (ca)

1. sparrow

စာ • (ca)

1. (of a voice) to be shrill

From Proto-Tibeto-Burman *m-dza-k (“to love”). Cognate with Tibetan [script needed] (mdza-ba, “idem”), Jingpho [script needed] (ndźaʔ, “to show love”) (STEDT), Old Chinese 慈 (OC *zɯ, “kind, benevolent”) (Hill, 2019).

စာ • (ca)

1. to sympathize with, be considerate to, have consideration for
2. to compare to or with

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *dzaʔ (“to eat”). See also စား (ca:, “to eat”) (STEDT).

The particle senses denoting "various things" may instead be from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *r-dzas (“thing”).

စာ • (ca)

1. food (something kept for consumption)
2. diet, cuisine
3. meal
4. fodder, feed, prey, bait
5. subsistence, means

စာ • (ca)

1. (derogatory) particle suffixed to nouns to connote that someone is deserving of being victimized or hit by someone or something
2. particle suffixed to nouns to denote supportive material for a certain function
3. particle suffixed to nouns to denote sufficiency for a certain number or utility over a certain length of time
4. particle suffixed to nouns to denote a waste product

• “စာ” in Myanmar–English Dictionary (Myanmar Language Commission 1993). Searchable online at SEAlang.net.

From Proto-Karen *caᴬ (“sell”). Cognate with S'gaw Karen ဆါ (hsah).

စာ (cà)

1. to sell