Archaic humble first-person pronoun used mainly by samurai in historical or period settings. Not used in modern Japanese outside of fiction or reenactment.
"I am a samurai," said the character in the period drama.
拙者 is the archaic first-person pronoun associated with samurai in historical dramas, while 麿 belongs to the earlier Heian court and carries a courtier rather than warrior image.
拙者 is an archaic samurai-era humble pronoun for 'I', while 不肖 is a still-used modern humble pronoun found in formal speeches and letters.
Archaic humble first-person pronoun, primarily used by samurai in historical contexts.
From 拙 (humble, clumsy) + 者 (person), literally 'clumsy person', used as a humble self-reference. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but it became associated with samurai speech in the Edo period.