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Definition 2024

自分

自分

Chinese

		from; self; oneself from; self; oneself; since	to divide; minute; (a measure word) to divide; minute; (a measure word); (a unit of leng
simp. and trad. (自分)		自	分

Verb

自分

(literary) to evaluate oneself

Japanese

Kanji in this term
自	分
じ Grade: 2	ぶん Grade: 2
on'yomi

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) じぶん [jìbúń] (Heiban - [0])
IPA^(key): [d͡ʑibɯ̃ᵝɴ]

Noun

自分 ‎(hiragana じぶん, romaji jibun)

oneself
I (often shows the speaker's lower position in a hierarchy than the addressee)
(Kansai) you

Usage notes

自分 means “oneself”, with 自分で meaning “by oneself, by one’s own efforts”. By contrast, 一人で and 独りで mean rather “alone”. Compare doing an assignment by oneself (without help) versus doing an assignment alone (without any other person around).

Synonyms

一人 (ひとり) ‎(hitori), 独 (ひと)り ‎(hitori)

See also

自己 (じこ) ‎(jiko)

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%

References

2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, ISBN 4095102535.