Dated male first-person pronoun with an arrogant or self-important tone. Strongly associated with the novel 吾輩は猫である, where it is used by a cat.
I am a cat. I don't have a name yet.
"The word 'impossible' is not in my dictionary," he said.
Archaic plural use, also with an arrogant or self-important tone. Rarely used in modern Japanese.
We are the rulers of this land.
Standard plural 'we'; 吾輩 as a plural is archaic and self-important.
Standard kanji form, used in the famous novel 吾輩は猫である.
Alternate kanji form; 吾輩 is more common.
Variant with explicit が; less common.
Search-only kana-kanji mixed form.
Variant with explicit が; less common.
From 我が輩, literally “my group” or “people such as myself,” with 我が containing the old attributive particle が. It developed into a characteristically lofty or self-important first-person pronoun.