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Words Kanji Guides About

私わたし

わ

た

し

Common wordJLPTN5Freq.FrequencyTop 100

Meanings

1

pronoun

Neutral polite first-person pronoun. Slightly formal or feminine in casual settings; men often use 僕 or 俺 in informal speech.

私わたしは学がく生せいです。
I am a student.
彼かれは私わたしに本ほんをくれました。
He gave me a book.

Written forms

私わたしUsage<1%
Standard kanji spelling for the first-person pronoun.
わたしUsage98%
Kana spelling is common in casual writing, children's materials, and when avoiding kanji.
ワタシUsage2%
search-only kana form
Katakana form is searchable but not a standard written variant; may appear in stylized contexts.

Kanji

私private, I, me

Similar words

僕ぼく
Casual first-person pronoun used mainly by males; less formal than 私.
俺おれ
Very casual, masculine first-person pronoun; used among close friends or in informal settings.
あたし
Casual feminine variant of わたし; often used by young women in informal speech.

Etymology

Originally from わたくし, which is the more formal version. わたし is a contracted form that became the standard polite first-person pronoun.