あたし

also: あたくし

あ

た

し

Common wordJLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 100

Meanings

1

female term, language, or nameusually written using kana alone

Casual first-person pronoun used mainly by women and girls. あたくし is a more polite variant.

あたし、今日きょうはちょっと早はやく帰かえるね。
I'm going home a little early today.
あたくしはそう思おもいませんわ。
I don't think so. (polite)

See all 10 example sentences ›

Expressions

あたしんちmy home; my family

Kanji

私private, I, me

Related words

僕ぼくN5
僕 is the casual first-person pronoun typically used by men and boys, paralleling あたし's casual, feminine usage.
俺おれN1
俺 is a rough, masculine casual pronoun for 'I', while あたし is its casual feminine counterpart.
私わたしN5
あたし is a softer, feminine-sounding variant of 私 used in casual speech by women.
私わたくしN1
あたし is a very casual, feminine first-person pronoun, in contrast to the formal and gender-neutral 私（わたくし）.

Politeness

私わたしpolite 丁寧語N5
わたし is the standard, gender-neutral polite way to say 'I', while あたし is a casual, feminine variant used mainly by women and girls.
私わたくしpolite 丁寧語N1
わたくし is a very formal, gender-neutral way to say 'I' used in business or ceremonial speech, whereas あたし is casual and feminine.

Written forms

私
- あたし
  Kanji spelling is possible but uncommon; usually read as わたし or わたくし.
- あたくし
あたくし
More polite variant; less common than あたし.

Etymology

Derived from わたし, with the initial consonant dropped, resulting in a casual, feminine form.