What is the Kanji for "Private" and "Me"?

If you are wondering what is the Japanese Kanji for "Private" and "Me", you've come to the right place!

The Japanese Kanji for "Private" and "Me" is "私".

This kanji has 3 readings:

Its kunyomi readings are "Watashi" and "Watakushi".

Its onyomi reading is "Shi".

kunyomi readings are based on the pronunciation of native Japanese words, and onyomi readings are based on the Chinese pronunciation of the character.

If you visually breakdown this kanji, you can see is made up of 2 parts:

The radical "禾" means "Cereal" . And The radical "厶" means "Private" .

Now, let's make sure you understand this kanji the other way around too.

What does the kanji "私" mean in japanese?

"私" means "Private" and "Me".

Japanese School Students learn this kanji in Sixth Grade, while foreigners may learn this kanji in preparation for the JLPT N4 exam.

Here are some words that use this kanji:

私: "I". The Japanese pronoun '私 (わたし)' refers to the speaker or writer. It is the most common personal pronoun used to refer to oneself in Japanese. '私' can be used by both men and women, and is considered a polite and formal way to refer to oneself. For example: I am a student - (私は学生です)、I like sushi - (私は寿司が好きです).

私たち: "We". The Japanese noun '私たち (わたしたち)' refers to 'we', the first person plural pronoun. This word is used to talk about the speaker and one or more other persons. It can be used in formal and informal contexts. For example: We are going to the park - (私たちは公園に行きます). We had a great time - (私たちは楽しい時間を過ごしました).

私鉄: "Private railway". The Japanese noun '私鉄 (してつ)' refers to a privately owned and operated railway system, as opposed to a publicly owned and operated national railway system. Private railways in Japan are typically found in major metropolitan areas and provide commuter and intercity transportation services. They are often more efficient and better-maintained than public railways. For example: The Tokyu Line is a private railway in Tokyo - (東急線は東京の私鉄です).

私費: "Private funds". The noun '私費 (しひ)' refers to personal or private funds, as opposed to public or organizational funds. It is used to describe money spent from one's own personal resources, rather than from an official budget or account. For example: I paid for it out of my private funds - (それは私の私費から支払いました).

私的: "Personal". The Japanese adjectival noun '私的 (してき)' means 'personal'. This term is used to describe things that are related to one's own individual, private life or affairs, as opposed to being public or official in nature. It can be used to describe personal opinions, private matters, or one's own individual perspective on something. For example: That is a personal matter - (それは私的なことです). I have my own personal reasons for doing this - (これをする私的な理由がある).

私立: "Private". The noun '私立 (しりつ)' means 'private'. It refers to a school, university, or other educational institution that is not funded or operated by the government, but rather by a private organization or individual. Private schools are independent and have more autonomy in their curriculum and admission policies compared to public schools. For example: I attended a private university - (私は私立大学に通っていました). The private school charges high tuition fees - (その私立学校は高い学費を請求します).

To make really sure you learn this Kanji, I've prepared an interactive lesson for you. You are going to learn the readings and meanings of this kanji.

But first, you need to know a little bit about Hiragana and Katakana.

Hiragana and katakana are japanese syllabaries, this means that each character represents a syllable.

This are the characters you need to know for this lesson:

The hiragana "し" is read as "shi". The hiragana "わ" is read as "wa". The hiragana "た" is read as "ta". And The hiragana "く" is read as "ku".

Heres a quick tutorial on how to use it. You'll be asked three type of questions: meaning, reading, and writing.

For meanings questions all you have to do is type the english meaning. If there is more than one meaning, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Reading questions you have to type the reading in romaji (roman letters, our normal alphabet) and it'll be automatically converted to hiragana if necessary. If there is more than one reading, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Writing questions some options will appear and all you have to do is select the correct ones.