Saka

name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A member of any of various peoples formerly inhabiting steppes north of the Iranian plateau.
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The Iranian language of the Saka people.
  2. 2
    A town in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.
  3. 3
    A village in Ida-Viru County, Estonia.
  4. 4
    A village in Courland, Latvia.
  5. 5
    A commune of Oriental, Morocco.
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    A surname.
  2. 7
    A surname.
  3. 8
    A surname.

Example

More examples

"Several times, my mother hosted Japanese "homestay" students at our Lulu Island house. The most memorable were the two girls from Ōsaka, Kaori and Noriko. They taught me to mix milk ice cream with green tea powder; it was a wonderful combination."

Etymology

Etymology 1

First attested in the late 19th century as a learned borrowing from Sanskrit शक (śaka), from Old Persian 𐎿𐎣𐎠 (s-k-a /⁠Sakā⁠/, “Scythian”), from 𐎿𐎣 (s-k /⁠Saka⁠/, “Scythia”), from Scythian. Mostly displaced earlier Saca, ultimately from the same source via Latin. Doublet of Saca, Shaka, and Scyth.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Japanese 坂(さか) (Saka); sometimes used as a topographic surname for someone who lived on a slope.

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Estonian Saka.

Etymology 4

Borrowed from Latvian Saka.

Etymology 5

Borrowed from Moroccan Arabic صاكة (ṣāka).

Etymology 6

Borrowed from Turkish Saka, an occupational surname for a water-carrier, from saka (“water-carrier”).

Etymology 7

Borrowed from Yoruba Saka.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.