儂
I, my, he, his, me (used by old people)
Readings
On'yomi
- ドウ
- ノウ
Kun'yomi
- わし
- かれ
Meaning
儂 centers on a personal pronoun, historically used as a first-person 'I' or 'me' by older speakers, and also extended to second or third person 'he' or 'his' in certain contexts. The meanings are tied to a single character used for self-reference or reference to another person.
Most common words using 儂
- 儂わし
I; me
Study
Etymology
儂 combines the person radical 亻 with 農, which likely provides the sound. The character was used as a pronoun in classical and dialectal Chinese, later adopted in Japanese with similar pronominal functions.
Meaning mnemonic
A person 亻 beside 農, which looks like a farmer working in the fields. Imagine an old farmer referring to himself as 'I' or 'me' in a rustic, traditional way.
Reading mnemonic
For ドウ, picture an old person saying 'I' while pointing to a dō (道, path) they walk every day: dō -> ドウ, and the old farmer's self-reference echoes the sound.