Obsolete humble or formal first-person plural pronoun, used mainly in pre-modern written Japanese. Not used in modern conversation.
We intend to leave this book for posterity.
Obsolete first-person plural pronoun. The kanji 余 is used for 'I/we' in classical Chinese-influenced writing.
Variant kanji form using 予 instead of 余; both are obsolete.
From 余 (archaic first-person pronoun) + 輩 (group, fellows). The exact historical derivation is uncertain; it appears in classical texts as a humble plural.