鯖さば

さ

ば

Common wordFreq.FrequencyTop 10,000

Meanings

mackerel; chub mackerel

usually written using kana alone

Refers to the fish, especially Scomber japonicus. Commonly written in kana.

Internet slang derived from the reading さば, which sounds like サーバー. Used mainly in online gaming communities.

鯖さばを焼やくto grill mackerel
今こん夜やは鯖さばを焼やいて食たべよう。
Let's grill some mackerel for dinner tonight.
鯖さばに入はいるto join an online game server
友とも達だちと同おなじ鯖さばに入はいって遊あそんだ。
I joined the same server as my friend to play together.
鯖さばにあたるto get food poisoning from (bad) mackerel
昨日きのう食たべた鯖さばにあたってしまった。
I got food poisoning from the mackerel I ate yesterday.
鯖さばが落おちるfor a (game) server to go down/crash
アクセスが集しゅう中ちゅうして鯖さばが落おちた。
The server crashed because too many people were accessing it at once.
鯖さばを読よむto fudge a number, esp. one's age (idiom)
彼かの女じょは年ねん齢れいの鯖さばを読よんでいる。
She's fudging her age.

サーバー sense 2
サーバー is the standard loanword for a computer server, while 鯖 is playful internet slang used mainly among online gamers because さば sounds like サーバー.

アジN1sense 1
鯖 (mackerel) and 鯵 (horse mackerel) are both common blue-backed fish sold side by side at markets and are easy for learners to mix up by name and appearance.
イワシN1
鰯 (sardine) is smaller and milder than 鯖 (mackerel), though both are cheap, oily fish often grilled or canned in Japan.

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鯖さばUsage22%
Standard kanji for mackerel; also used in the internet slang sense.
サバUsage55%
kana-only spelling
Katakana spelling often used in culinary or commercial contexts.
さばUsage23%
Kana spelling is common for the fish sense.

The fish sense is native Japanese. The internet slang sense is a homophonic pun on サーバー (server), using the kanji 鯖 for its reading さば.