What's the difference between "さけ" (sake) and "しゃけ" (shake)?


Today I saw onigiri claiming to contain "しゃけ" (shake). When I asked my friend
what that was, she said it was the same as "さけ" (sake), "salmon".

So are these two just different readings of a kanji, regional differences,
used by different generations, etc? How did the two pronunciations come about?
Which should I use?




Both さけ and しゃけ mean salmon and are written as 鮭 in kanji (but I will avoid
using this kanji in this answer for an obvious reason). As far as I know,
there is no difference in meaning, but some people seem to distinguish the two
words in meanings (see below).

According to a [webpage](http://www.food.maruha-
nichiro.co.jp/salmon/faq/index.html#q11) by Maruha Nichiro Foods, Inc., the
Kōjien dictionary lists the word しゃけ as a variation of the word さけ with the
same meaning. The webpage also states that there is no obvious geographical
tendency between the use of さけ and しゃけ.

According to [this
page](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1211008052) and
[this page](http://nhg.pro.tok2.com/qa/hatsuon4.htm), some people distinguish
the two words, in which case さけ means living or raw salmon and しゃけ means
cooked salmon. I had never heard of this distinction personally, and I doubt
that many people distinguish the use of the two words.




Both さけ and しゃけ mean salmon and are written as 鮭 in kanji (but I will avoid
using this kanji in this answer for an obvious reason). As far as I know,
there is no difference in meaning, but some people seem to distinguish the two
words in meanings (see below).

According to a [webpage](http://www.food.maruha-
nichiro.co.jp/salmon/faq/index.html#q11) by Maruha Nichiro Foods, Inc., the
Kōjien dictionary lists the word しゃけ as a variation of the word さけ with the
same meaning. The webpage also states that there is no obvious geographical
tendency between the use of さけ and しゃけ.

According to [this
page](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1211008052) and
[this page](http://nhg.pro.tok2.com/qa/hatsuon4.htm), some people distinguish
the two words, in which case さけ means living or raw salmon and しゃけ means
cooked salmon. I had never heard of this distinction personally, and I doubt
that many people distinguish the use of the two words.

