私

Stroke order

私 (Kangxi radical 115, 禾+2, 7 strokes, cangjie input 竹木戈 (HDI), four-corner 2293₀, composition ⿰禾厶)

• 俬, 𭈀, 𦮺, 𥢅/𥢆/𫁅

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 849, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 24913
• Dae Jaweon: page 1271, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2589, character 6
• Unihan data for U+79C1

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sil) : semantic 禾 (“grain”) + phonetic 厶 (OC *sil) – private grain or field.

Displaced the original form 厶.

私

1. self; personal; private

   私人  ―  sīrén  ―  personal

   私有  ―  sīyǒu  ―  private

2. selfish

   自私  ―  zìsī  ―  selfish

3. (Can we add an example for this sense?) (Classical, humble) first-person singular pronoun: I; me
4. illegal or secret goods

   走私  ―  zǒusī  ―  to smuggle

5. stealthily; secretly

   私语  ―  sīyǔ  ―  to whisper

6. (obsolete) Used by women to refer to their sister's husband
7. reproductive organs; genitals
8. (Internet slang) Short for 私聊 (sīliáo, “to PM, to DM”).

(Sixth grade kyōiku kanji)

• Go-on: し (shi, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: し (shi, Jōyō)
• Kun: わたくし (watakushi, 私, Jōyō)、わたし (watashi, 私, Jōyō)、ひそかに (hisokani, 私かに)

• 私語(ささめごと) (sasamegoto)
• 私語(ささや)く (sasayaku, “to whisper, rumor”)

Shift from watakushi below.^[1][2]

This reading was already prevalent in early modern times, possibly around the mid-late Muromachi to early-Edo period.

• (Tokyo) わたし (Heiban – )^[2][3]
• IPA^(key):

私(わたし) • (watashi) 

1. (polite) first-person singular pronoun: I, me

   私(わたし)はイギリス人(じん)です。

   Watashi wa Igirisu-jin desu.

   I am British.

Watashi is the usual polite term for referring to oneself.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:私.

From Old Japanese 私 (watakusi).

A surface analysis suggests a compound term. However, no likely etyma are known.

• From first-person pronoun 我 (wa, “I, me”) + takusi: although the first element seems likely, the original meaning of watakushi was “private”, as opposed to “public”, with no first-person pronoun usage until the late 13th century.
• From wata + kusi: the only phonetic matches are 綿 (wata, “cotton; cotton batting”), 腸 (wata, “guts, one's innards”, likely derived from the “batting” sense), 海 (wata, “sea, ocean”) + 串 (kusi, “skewer”), 奇し (kusi, “magic, fantastic, supernatural”, adjective), 酒 (kusi, “alcoholic beverage”, likely derived from the “magic” sense), 櫛 (kusi, “comb”).
• From wataku + si: no such word wataku appears to exist.
• From wa + ta + ku + si: unknown.

The meaning evolved over time from “private” or “privatization”, to refer to things that are personal, to refer to one's own person, and then finally to serve as a generic first-person pronoun. The full form watakushi is still used in modern Japanese as a formal, highly polite first-person pronoun. The abbreviated form watashi is now the most common and neutrally polite first-person pronoun.

• (Tokyo) わたくし (Heiban – )^[2][3]
• IPA^(key):

私(わたくし) • (watakushi) 

1. a personal or private matter
2. (by extension) selfishness

   Synonyms: 自分勝手 (jibun katte), 私利私欲 (shiri shiyoku)

私(わたくし) • (watakushi) 

1. (formal) first-person singular pronoun: I, me

Watakushi is the formal term, only used in certain circumstances, such as by TV announcers or public figures such as politicians. Conversely, it is too formal for casual conversation for men, where terms like 俺 (ore) are preferred.

/si/ → /ɕi/

From Middle Chinese 私 (MC sij).

私(し) • (shi) 

1. personal, private
2. secret

私(し) • (shi) 

1. a personal or private matter
2. selfishness
3. privacy, secrecy
4. (women's speech, obsolete) a brother-in-law

• 私(し)バス (shibasu, “privately operated bus”)

(The following entry is uncreated: あし.)

(The following entry is uncreated: わたい.)

(The following entry is uncreated: わて.)

私 (eumhun 사사 사 (sasa sa))

1. hanja form^? of 사 (“private, personal”)

私 (watakusi) (kana わたくし)

1. a personal or private matter

• 私田 (watakusida)

• Japanese: 私 (watakushi, watashi)

私: Hán Nôm readings: tư, tây

1. private, personal