私

Meaning in English

Stroke order

Animated kanji stroke order

私

Sentence

Related sentences

N5 私は日本語を勉強したいです。 Watashi wa nihongo o benkyou shitai desu. I want to study Japanese. N5 私はもっと日本語を勉強したいです。 Watashi wa motto nihongo o benkyou shitai desu. I want to study more Japanese. N5 私はもう食べました。 Watashi wa mou tabemashita. I already ate. N5 私はまだ食べていません。 Watashi wa mada tabete imasen. I have not eaten yet. N5 私はもう行きました。 Watashi wa mou ikimashita. I already went. N5 私はまだ行っていません。 Watashi wa mada itte imasen. I have not gone yet. N5 私は学生ではありません。 Watashi wa gakusei dewa arimasen. I am not a student. N5 私は兄が一人います。 Watashi wa ani ga hitori imasu. I have one older brother. N5 私は妹が一人います。 Watashi wa imouto ga hitori imasu. I have one younger sister.

Dictionary

Word context

What it means

What does 私 mean? It is the standard Japanese first-person pronoun meaning "I" or "me", used to refer to oneself in speech and writing as a neutral, commonly accepted self-reference across many everyday and formal contexts.

Main meanings

1. Politeness nuance: can function as a neutral or polite pronoun appropriate for business and formal settings rather than rough or intimate speech.
2. Gender and style: while broadly neutral in formal contexts, casual use can carry feminine overtones in some dialects and social settings.
3. Compound meaning: as a kanji component it conveys the idea of "private" or "personal" when used in compound words and set phrases.
4. Literary and archival uses: appears in written and historical registers with slightly different stylistic force than contemporary casual pronouns.

How to use it

Used across spoken and written Japanese as a self-referential pronoun in neutral and formal situations; chosen for business, public speaking, news, and polite conversation, while speakers often select alternatives for intimate, casual, or gendered effect; in professional or unfamiliar contexts, 私 (watashi) is the safe, standard choice.

Variants and close terms

僕 (boku) — I (masculine, informal)
俺 (ore) — I (masculine, very casual/rough)
あたし (atashi) — I (feminine, casual)
私 (watakushi) — I (very formal, polite variant)
我 (ware) — I (archaic or literary)
自分 (jibun) — oneself (neutral, reflexive use)

Composition

The kanji 私 ( watashi ) is written with elements traditionally analyzed as the "grain" radical (禾) combined with a small component (厶) suggesting a private or personal action; together the character conveys a sense of personal/ private possession that extended to denote the self as "myself" or "I".

Origin

The kanji 私 ( watashi ) was borrowed from Chinese characters and adopted into Japanese writing; its use as a first-person reference developed over centuries, becoming common in classical and medieval literature and later standardizing in modern Japanese as social speech norms evolved during the Edo and Meiji periods.

Word class

First-person pronoun (代名詞)

Kanji