俺

俺 U+4FFA, 俺 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4FFA ← 俹 [U+4FF9] CJK Unified Ideographs 俻 → [U+4FFB]

Translingual

Han character

俺 (radical 9 人+8, 10 strokes, cangjie input 人大中山 (OKLU), four-corner 2421₆, composition ⿰亻奄)

References

• KangXi: page 106, character 21
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 736
• Dae Jaweon: page 227, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 173, character 2
• Unihan data for U+4FFA

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		俺

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ŋa. Cognate with 我 (wǒ), 吾 (wú), 𠊎 (ái).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): ǎn (an³)

  (Zhuyin): ㄢˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jim³, aan²
• Min Nan (POJ): án
• Wu (Wiktionary): oe (T2)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: ǎn
    • Zhuyin: ㄢˇ
    • Wade-Giles: an³
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: aan
    • IPA ^(key): /ˀa̠n²¹⁴/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: jim³, aan²
    • Yale: yim, áan
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jim³, aan²
    • Guangdong Romanization: yim³, an²
    • IPA ^(key): /jiːm³³/, /ɑːn³⁵/

Note: The zero initial /∅-/ is commonly pronounced with a ng-initial /ŋ-/ in some varieties of Cantonese, including Hong Kong Cantonese.

• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: án
    • Tâi-lô: án
    • Phofsit Daibuun: arn
    • IPA (Xiamen): /an⁵³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /an⁵⁵⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /an⁵³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /an⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /an⁴¹/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • Wiktionary: oe (T2)
    • IPA ^(key): /ø³⁴/

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• Middle Chinese: /ʔˠiᴇm^H/, /ʔɨɐm^H/▼

Rime
Character	俺	俺
Reading #	1/2	2/2
Initial (聲)	影 (34)	影 (34)
Final (韻)	鹽 (154)	嚴 (145)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	Chongniu III	III
Fanqie	於驗切	於劔切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ʔˠiᴇmH/	/ʔɨɐmH/
Pan Wuyun	/ʔᵚiɛmH/	/ʔiɐmH/
Shao Rongfen	/ʔiæmH/	/ʔiɐmH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ʔjiamH/	/ʔɨamH/
Li Rong	/ʔjɛmH/	/ʔiɐmH/
Wang Li	/ĭɛmH/	/ĭɐmH/
Bernard Karlgren	/ʔi̯ɛmH/	/ʔi̯ɐmH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	yàn	yàn

Definitions

俺

1. (dialectal Mandarin, Min) I, me, my; we, us, our

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 我 (“I”) [map]
Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		吾、我、私、余、予、台、朕
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		我
Mandarin	Beijing	我
	Taiwan	我
	Jinan	我、俺
	Xi'an	我
	Wuhan	我
	Chengdu	我
	Yangzhou	我
	Hefei	我
Cantonese	Guangzhou	我
	Hong Kong	我
	Taishan	我
	Yangjiang	我
Gan	Nanchang	我
Hakka	Meixian	𠊎
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	𠊎
	Liudui (S. Sixian)	𠊎
	Hsinchu (Hailu)	𠊎
	Dongshi (Dabu)	𠊎
	Zhuolan (Raoping)	𠊎
	Yunlin (Zhao'an)	𠊎
Jin	Taiyuan	我
Min Bei	Jian'ou	我
Min Dong	Fuzhou	我、奴
Min Nan	Xiamen	我、阮
	Taipei	我、阮
	Chaozhou	我、阮
Wu	Shanghai	我、吾、阿拉
	Suzhou	我、奴
	Wenzhou	我
	Ningbo	我、我儂、像我
Xiang	Changsha	我
	Shuangfeng	我、卬

Compounds

• 俺們／俺们 (ǎnmen)

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Japanese

Kanji

俺

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: えん (en)^{←えん (en, historical)←えむ (emu, ancient)}
• Kan’on: えん (en)^{←えん (en, historical)←えむ (emu, ancient)}
• Kun: おれ (ore, 俺, Jōyō); われ (ware, 俺)

Alternative forms

• 乃公
• 爾
• 儞
• 己

Etymology

Kanji in this term
俺
おれ Grade: S
kun'yomi

Originally a second person pronoun. Gradually changed into a first person pronoun.

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) おれ [òré] (Heiban - [0])
  • IPA^(key): [o̞ɾe̞]

Pronoun

俺 (hiragana おれ, katakana オレ, rōmaji ore)

1. (obsolete, informal) you
2. (informal) I; me
   • 2001 January 23, Kurumada, Masami, “女神アテナの聖闘士セイントの巻まき [Athena’s Saints]”, in Saintセイント星セイ矢ヤ [Saint Seiya], volume 1 (fiction, in Japanese), Tokyo: Shueisha, ISBN 4-08-617650-5, page 20:

     これがオレの小宇宙 (コスモ)だぁ‼

     Kore ga ore no Kosumo dā‼

     This is my Cosmo‼

   • 2001 August 6, Kurumada, Masami, “少しょう年ねんたちよ！女神アテナを託たくすの巻まき [Boys! For Athena]”, in Saintセイント星セイ矢ヤ [Saint Seiya], volume 4 (fiction, in Japanese), 5th edition, Tokyo: Shueisha, ISBN 4-08-617655-6, page 222:

     オレは山羊座 (カプリコーン)のシュラ‼

     Ore wa Kapurikōn no Shura‼

     I am Shura the Capricorn‼

Usage notes

• This is an example of a word that can be spelled with katakana to convey an informal conversational tone.
• This word is the usual casual form used by men, and is completely acceptable with friends; 僕 or 私 are too formal for casual use. Conversely, in polite conversation or where polite forms are expected, 俺 is unacceptable and rude. As with other casual forms, may be used intentionally if one wishes to be rude, but should not be used otherwise.

See also

Japanese first-person pronouns

Japanese first-person pronouns by speakers and situations according to Yuko Saegusa, Concerning the First Personal Pronoun of Native Japanese Speakers (2009)

First-person pronouns by elementary school pupils (2008)

Speaker	Situation	1	2	3
Female	To friends	うち 49%	First name 26%	あたし 15%
	In the family	First name 33%	あたし 29%	うち 23%
	In a class	わたし 86%	あたし 7%	うち 6%
	To an unknown visitor	わたし 75%	あたし, first name, うち 8% each
	To the class teacher	わたし 66%	First name 13%	あたし 9%
Male	To friends	おれ 72%	ぼく 19%	First name 4%
	In the family	おれ 62%	ぼく 23%	うち 6%
	In a class	ぼく 85%	おれ 13%	First name, nickname 1% each
	To an unknown visitor	ぼく 64%	おれ 26%	First name 4%
	To the class teacher	ぼく 67%	おれ 27%	First name 3%

First-person pronouns by university students (2009)

Speaker	Situation	1	2	3
Female	To friends	うち 39%	あたし 30%	わたし 22%
	In the family	あたし 28%	First name 27%	うち 18%
	In a class	わたし 89%	あたし 7%	自分 3%
	To an unknown visitor	わたし 81%	あたし 10%	自分 6%
	To the class teacher	わたし 77%	あたし 17%	自分 7%
Male	To friends	おれ 87%	うち 4%	わたし, 自分 2% each
	In the family	おれ 88%	ぼく, 自分 5% each
	In a class	わたし 48%	自分 28%	ぼく 22%
	To an unknown visitor	ぼく 36%	自分 29%	わたし 22%
	To the class teacher	自分 38%	ぼく 29%	わたし 22%

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Korean

Hanja

俺 • (eom, eop) (hangeul 엄, 업, McCune-Reischauer ŏm, ŏp)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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Vietnamese

Han character

俺 (em, yêm, êm)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

References

• Nom Foundation