Where does “我” come from?

我 (Japanese) comes from Old Japanese 我, from Old Japanese れ — nominalizing suffix used to form pronouns, often from demonstratives: one, thing.

我 (Japanese): first person singular pronoun: I, me, oneself;...

Definitions

  1. first person singular pronoun: I, me, oneself;...

Ancestry of “我”, step by step

我 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Old Japanese 我

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Japanese我first-person personal pronoun: I, me;...
2Old Japaneseれnominalizing suffix used to form pronouns, often from demonstratives: one, thing

via Middle Chinese 我

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Chinese我—

Words derived from “我”

Every word from Old Japanese れ →Every word from Old Japanese 我 →