Meaning of 893
893 means yakuza.
*Yakuza is a japanese mafia.
The pronunciation of 893 is “yakuza”.
In this case, the number 8 is pronounced “ya”,
the number 9 is pronounced “ku”,
the number 3 is pronounced “za”.
893 is an internet slang.(Yakuza is not a slang.)
When we count the number from 1, we count like this.
Hitotsu(一つ) or Ichi(いち) which means 1.
Futatsu(二つ) or Ni(に) which means 2.
Mittsu(三つ) or San(さん) which means 3.
Yottsu(四つ) or Yon(よん) which means 4.
Itsutsu(五つ) or Go(ご) which means 5.
Muttsu(六つ) or Roku(ろく) which means 6.
Nanatsu(七つ) or Nana(なな) which means 7.
Yattsu(八つ) or Hachi(はち) which means 8.
Kokonotsu(九つ) or Kyuu(きゅう) which means 9.
So that’s why the number 8 is pronounced “ya(や)”, and the number 3 is pronounced “za(ざ)” in this case.
Additionaly, the pronounciation of “九” is not only “Kyuu(きゅう)” and “Kokono(ここの)”, but “Ku(く)”.
That’s why the number 3 is pronounced “za(ざ)”.
And that’s not just internet slang but also apparently the origin of the word Yakuza itself: the three numbers forming the worst hand at the card game Oicho-Kabu (おいちょかぶ), hence gangsters being the lowest members of society!
Yakuza is not an internet slang, but 893 is an internet slang.
Maybe I made you misunderstand, so I changed this article just a bit.
Thanks for the explanation!
I’ve seen other words using number reading (e.g. 4649 – yoroshiku), are there any other words like that that often used in daily life?
It’s not so common now, but still, we can read and understand the meaning of them somehow.
However, long time ago, it was common because everybody use a pager not a smart phone. By using pager, people can send only numbers, so young people invented a lot of words by using number.
For example…
39(san kyuu) means thank you.
0840(o ha yo o) means good morning.
I just googled them now, but maybe over 40 or 50 years old Japanese can understand the code more easily.