自我
Meaning in Englishself, ego
Animated kanji stroke order
Word context
What it means
自我 means the conscious sense of one's own self or ego; it denotes an individual's awareness of personal identity, subjective experience, and the sense of agency that guides thoughts and actions in psychological, philosophical, and everyday contexts.
Main meanings
- 1. The psychoanalytic or psychological ego as a functional part of the mind responsible for reality-testing and mediation between impulse and external world.
- 2. Self-awareness or the reflective sense of being a distinct subject with inner life.
- 3. Colloquial nuance implying self-centeredness or a strong personal will when used about behavior or temperament.
- 4. Philosophical notion of personal identity or the subjectivity that underlies consciousness.
How to use it
Used in academic writing (psychology, philosophy), formal analyses, and everyday speech; in professional contexts it refers to theoretical constructs, while in casual conversation it often appears to describe personality traits (for example, a remark about someone being self-centered). It functions as a noun and combines with grammatical particles or adjectives to describe states, tendencies, or clinical concepts.
Variants and close terms
- 自分 (jibun) — oneself
- 自己 (jiko) — self (used in compound terms like self-identity)
- 我 (ware) — I, ego (more literary or emphatic)
- 無我 (muga) — no-self, antonym used in Buddhist contexts
Composition
- 自 (ji): self, oneself; indicates personal origin or reflexive action.
- 我 (ga): I, ego; denotes the individual subject or sense of 'I'.
Origin
The lexical concept entered Japanese via Sino-Japanese vocabulary from Classical Chinese; its use broadened with translations of Buddhist, Confucian, and later Western psychological texts, becoming a standard term in modern Japanese discourse on mind and identity during the Meiji–Taisho modernization of academic vocabulary.
Word class
noun (名詞)