私 · private, I, me

JLPT N4 kanji. Readings, meaning, and how the character is built.

私 means private, I, me. It is a JLPT N4 kanji written in 7 strokes, read わたくし or わたし or し. It is built from 2 parts: 禾 (two-branch tree radical (no. 115)), 厶 (I, myself). It appears in 私鉄 (private railway).

筆順 · Stroke order

私 is written in 7 strokes, in the order numbered below. Order matters: it is what makes handwriting legible, and it is how the character is looked up in a paper dictionary.

解字 · What it is made of

私 breaks into 2 parts.

• 禾 semantic two-branch tree radical (no. 115) · left carries the meaning
• 厶 other I, myself · right component

Words that use 私

Word	Reading	Meaning
私	わたし	I / myself
私	わたくし	I (formal) / myself / private affairs
私鉄	してつ	private railway

Built from the same parts

These use 禾 or 厶 too. The part keeps its job from one character to the next, which is what makes it worth learning once.

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Practise 私

Sumi teaches the character before it tests you: stroke order animated, the breakdown above shown as a pull-apart X-ray, then spaced review. Free, in your browser, no signup.

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