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shi-shi

shi-shi n. urine or urination. Also make shi-shi or go shi-shi ‘to urinate.’ Editorial Note: Reduplicated shi, from the Japanese shiko ‘urine.’ Also imitative of the sound of streaming water. A similar expression occurs in Portuguese, according to the Dictionary of Informal Brazilian Portuguese (1983, Georgetown University Press). In that language, fazer xixi is colloquial for “to urinate; to go wee-wee.” The xixi ‘urine; pee-pee’ is pronounced “SHEE-shee.” (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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11 comments
  • My name is Shi Shi and I have been called pee pee my entire life. Thanx for bringing this wonderful fact out into the open. Have a nice day.

  • In the Japanese language there are over 50 meanings for the word Shi-Shi none of which means to urinate, although it is commonly used in Hawaii for that very meaning. In Nihongo (Japanese Language) Shi Shi can mean anything from a Lion to an Heiress, it can even mean dismembered parts of a body, depending on how the word is used and what other words are used with it. Shi Shi can also mean “A Patriot” so as a side note the person named Shi Shi, I’m sure your name was meant as to be something fantastic and not Urine as this would suggest.

  • And by the way, in my up bringing the Japanese word Shiko did not mean “Urine” it meant “to conduct ones privet business” and being that using the bathroom can be considered ones privet business that word was used. But it doesn’t mean Urine.

    Oh ya, some other japanese meanings for the Nihongo word Shi-Shi could be “preserverance” or “Pointing out another persons mistakes”. (so does that mean I just Shi-Shi’ed on you?.. lol..)

    But I have to admit as you stated above, if you are in Hawaii and someone says they have to make Shi-Shi right now, you better find them a bathroom (or tree) real quick.

  • not entirely sure where the accent falls when pronouncing “shi shi,” but if remember correctly, accenting the second “shi” gives you the brazilian portuguese pronunciation (xi-XI).

    is there a difference? 
    why do i care?

  • My daughter at age 6 got a kitten and insisted on naming her Shishi, which was a name she made up. We looked up the meaning afterward, and we prefer the “lion” meaning, though she likes telling her friends it means “to pee”.

  • I live in Akita, Japan, but spent the first 25 years of my life in Hawaii, speaking pidgin. My coworker told me that shi shi is baby talk for urinating, as infants and younger children have not learned the proper “Oshikko shitai” (I have to urinate), which is commonly used among adults.

  • ‘Shi’ in nepali is informal word for ‘pee’; often used by kids.

    Younger kids/babies say ‘Shu’ or ‘ShuShu’. In Kazak language, ‘Shu’ is ‘water’ and me and my kazak fren here love playing around with the word.

  • I am amazed at how different cultures connotate the idea of urination. I found this post both amusing and enlightening. Yesterday I heard a friend use the phrase “I have to go use the shishi”. I wasn’t sure what she meant, but now I know. 🙂

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When an international team of scientists traveled to a research station in Antarctica for six months, the language they all shared was English. After six months together, their accents changed ever so slightly — a miniature version of how language...

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