私 — how to write the kanji for “private”
私 means “private”, “I” and “me”; it is a JLPT N4 kanji, taught in sixth grade in Japan. In newspapers it is the 242nd most used kanji. It starts with the left-falling sweep, before the horizontal that crosses it. On its own it is the word watashi, “I; me”. Its common words take the reading shi: 私立 (“private (establishment)”), 私邸 (“private residence”), 私的 (“private”) and 私鉄 (“private railway”). Chinese reads it sī, “personal”, at HSK 5.
- Strokes
- 7
- JLPT
- N4
- Radical
- 禾 (“two-branch tree radical”)
- On
- シ
- Kun
- わたし, わたくし
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
Its parts sit side by side: 禾 (“two-branch tree radical”, its radical), strokes 1–5; 厶 (“private”), strokes 6–7, each finished before the next.
- Left-falling stroke ㇒topdown and left
- Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
- Vertical ㇑top leftdownwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒leftdown and left
- Dot ㇔centerdown and right
- Left-falling-turn ㇜top rightdownwards → rightwards
- Dot ㇔rightdown and right
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 7 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
The trap in 私
Stroke 1 is the left-falling stroke and stroke 2 the horizontal, the same as in 右; 左 does the opposite.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Readings
- On (Chinese-derived)
- シ shi
- Kun (native)
- わたし watashi, わたくし watakushi (rare)
- Meanings
- private; I; me
- Read shi
- 私立 私邸 私的 私鉄 公私 私学
- School year
- sixth grade
- Newspaper rank
- 242nd of 2,500 (KANJIDIC2)
- Korean hanja
- 사 sa
- Common words
- 24 in JMdict
Words with 私
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 私立 | しりつ shiritsu | private (establishment) |
| 私邸 | してい shitei | private residence |
| 私的 | してき shiteki | private; personal |
| 私鉄 | してつ shitetsu | private railway |
| 公私 | こうし koushi | public and private matters; official and personal affairs |
| 私学 | しがく shigaku | private (non-governmental) school (college, university) |
| 私有 | しゆう shiyuu | private ownership |
| 私文書 | しぶんしょ shibunsho | private document |
| 私大 | しだい shidai | private university |
| 私設 | しせつ shisetsu | private |
Most common first (JMdict).
Practice sheet
Print at 100%. Several kanji: worksheet maker.
Keep going
Same parts:
JLPT N4, in list order: