我

我 (radical 62, 戈+3, 7 strokes, cangjie input 竹手戈 (HQI), four-corner 2355₀, composition ⿻𠂌戈)

• 哦, 硪, 饿, 蛾, 俄, 峨, 鹅, 莪, 娥, 誐, 锇, 皒, 涐, 珴, 睋, 騀, 鵞, 䄉

• 𛀜

• KangXi: page 412, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 11545
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1401, character 2
• Unihan data for U+6211

Historical forms of the character 我
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu Slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

A pictogram (象形) of a rake-like tool or weapon (note oracle bone script form); Guo Moruo considers it to be the original character for 錡 (OC *ɡral, “a kind of axe or chisel”). It was already borrowed for sound to mean "I" since the oracle bone script.

Folk etymology considers it to be an ideograph of a hand 手 holding a weapon 戈 to protect oneself.

Some have suggested a contrast with 爾, interpreting the latter as a weapon with tip pointing outward. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ŋa-j ~ ka. Cognate with 吾 (OC *ŋaː), Hakka 𠊎 (ngài).

我

1. I; me; my

   認識你我真高興。 / 认识你我真高兴。  ―  Rènshí nǐ wǒ zhēn gāoxìng.  ―  I am pleased to meet you.

   我哥哥每天上班都遲到。 [MSC, trad.]
   我哥哥每天上班都迟到。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ gēge měitiān shàngbān dōu chídào. [Pinyin]

   My brother is late for work everyday.

   今朝公司有事體，我先走勒。 [Shanghainese, trad.]
   今朝公司有事体，我先走勒。 [Shanghainese, simp.]

   [t͡ɕɪɲ⁵⁵ t͡sɔ²¹ kʊŋ⁵⁵ sz̩²¹ ɦiɜ³³  z̻z̩²² tʰi⁴⁴ ŋv̩ʷ²³ ɕi⁵³ t͡sɜ³³ ləʔ⁴⁴] [IPA]

   Today I have things to do in the company, (so) I'm leaving early (lit. ahead).

2. (literary, formal or dialectal) we; us; our

   我國 / 我国  ―  wǒguó  ―  our country

   我市  ―  wǒshì  ―  our city

3. ^† to stubbornly hold to one's own opinion
4. ^† to kill
5. ^‡ tilted
6. A surname​.

• “Entry #3153”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. I, me

• Go-on: が (ga, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: が (ga, Jōyō)
• Kun: われ (ware, 我, Jōyō); わ (wa, 我, Jōyō)

From Old Japanese.[1]

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) わ​ [wáꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])[2]
  • IPA^(key): [ɰᵝa̠]

• 吾, 和 (rare)

我 (hiragana わ, rōmaji wa)

1. first-person personal pronoun: I, me
   • c. late 9th – mid-10th century, Taketori Monogatari

     「[...]わが丈たち竝ぶまで養ひたてまつりたる我子を、なに人が迎へきこえん。まさに許さんや」と言ひて、[...]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • c. 1001–1014, Murasaki Shikibu, Genji Monogatari (Kiritsubo)

     Template:uxja

   • c. 1001–1014, Murasaki Shikibu, Genji Monogatari (Utsusemi)

     女どち、のどやかなる夕闇の、道たどたどしげなるまぎれに、わが車にてゐてたてまつる。

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

In modern Japanese, most often encountered in fossilized phrases in combination with the Old Japanese possessive particle が (ga), such as 我が儘 (wagamama, “selfish; selfishness”, literally “just as I like”) or 我が国 (wagakuni, “my country, my homeland; (by extension) Japan”).

From Old Japanese.[1]

Appears to be 我 (wa, see above) +‎ れ (-re).

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) わ​れ [wáꜜrè] (Atamadaka – [1])[2][3]
  • IPA^(key): [ɰᵝa̠ɾe̞]

• 吾

我 (hiragana われ, rōmaji ware)

1. first person personal pronoun: I, me, oneself
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 14, poem 3384)

     可都思加能 麻末能手兒奈乎 麻許登可聞 和礼尓余須等布 麻末乃弖胡奈乎

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • c. late 9th – mid-10th century, Taketori Monogatari

     この人々、あるときは竹取を呼び出て「娘を吾にたべ」と、ふし拝み、手をすりのたまへど[...]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • c. late 9th – mid-10th century, Taketori Monogatari

     「[...]わが丈たち竝ぶまで養ひたてまつりたる我子を、なに人が迎へきこえん。まさに許さんや」と言ひて、「われこそ死なめ」とて[...]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • c. 1001–1014, Murasaki Shikibu, Genji Monogatari (Utsusemi)

     紀の守のいもうとも、こなたにあるか。われに、垣間見せさせよ

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 1603–1604, Nippo Jisho

     Vare. ワレ (我) 私. また, おまえ. 本来の正しい言い方ではないが、下賎な者と話したり, 人を軽しめたりする時に用いる.

2. second person personal pronoun; you
   • 1603–1604, Nippo Jisho (page 679)

     Vare. ワレ (我) 私. また, おまえ. 本来の正しい言い方ではないが、下賎な者と話したり, 人を軽しめたりする時に用いる.

(alternative reading hiragana わい, katakana ワイ, romaji wai)

1. (Kagoshima, men's speech, colloquial) Synonym of お前 (o-mae, “you”)
   • 1984 November 15, Murakami, Motoka, “鹿カ児ゴ島ンマの猛も者さたちの巻まき [The He-Men of Kagoshima]”, in 六ム三サ四シの剣けん [Musashi’s Sword], volume 17 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, pages 12–13:

     オレはこの九 (きゅう)州 (しゅう)へ武 (む)者 (しゃ)修 (しゅ)行 (ぎょう)さきた！逃 (に)げもかくれもしねえ！何 (なん)千 (ぜん)人 (にん)だって相 (あい)手 (て)になってやるぞ！

     Ore wa kono Kyūshū e musha shugyō sa kita! Nige mo kakure mo shinē! Nanzennin datte aite ni natte yaru zo!

     I’ve come to Kyūshū on my journey to perfect my martial arts! I will not run away or hide! I’m ready to face all of you!

     よういうた‼じゃっどん、ワイの武 (む)者 (しゃ)修 (しゅ)行 (ぎょう)はこん鹿 (カ)児 (ゴ)島 (ンマ)だけで終 (お)わいじゃっ‼

     Yō iu ta‼ Jaddon, wai no musha shugyō wa kon Kagonma dake de owai ja'‼

     Oh yeah⁉ Yer journey ends in Kagoshima, here and now‼

   • 1984 November 15, Murakami, Motoka, “示じ現げん流りゅう・日ひ高だかの巻まき [Hidaka of Jigen Style]”, in 六ム三サ四シの剣けん [Musashi’s Sword], volume 17 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, page 34:

     やめんか、ワイたちゃ‼まだオイとの稽 (けい)古 (こ)が終 (お)わっちょらんたっどォ‼

     Yamen ka, wai-tacha‼ Mada oi to no keiko ga owatchoran taddō‼

     Cut it out, all of ya‼ It’s still mah turn‼

     (literally, “Stop, y’all‼ [His] practice [session] with me isn’t over yet‼”)

In modern Japanese, most often encountered in the plural forms 我等 (warera) and 我我 (wareware, “we, us”).

Old Japanese. Ancient eastern dialect. Cognate with 我 (ware).[1]

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [ɰᵝa̠nɯ̟ᵝ]

• 吾

我 (hiragana わぬ, rōmaji wanu)

1. (regional, obsolete) first person personal pronoun: I, me, oneself
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 14, poem 3476)

     宇倍兒奈波 和奴尓故布奈毛 多刀都久能 努賀奈敝由家婆 故布思可流奈母 或本歌末句曰 奴我奈敝由家杼 和奴賀由乃敝波

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

     　ube konapa wanuni kopunamo tato tukuno nuganape (or noganape) yukeba kopusikarunamo (according to some other text, the final stanza says nuganape yukedo wanuga yunopepa)
     Oh, yes, how (my) dear one loves me! While the rising moon (or the new month) goes flowing by, (s)he must be missing me so much. (According to some other text, the final stanza says, "though it goes flowing by, while I have not gone (to see him/her)").

   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 20, poem 4358)

     於保伎美乃 美許等加志古美 伊弖久礼婆 和努等里都伎弖 伊比之古奈波毛

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

     opokimino mikoto kasikomi itekureba (or idekureba) wanu (or wano) toritukite ipisi konapamo
     Oh, (how is) the dear one (to whom) I clung and spoke (when I) came out (here) respectfully obeying the words of the Great Lord?

⟨waro₂⟩ → */warə/ → /waro/

Old Japanese. Ancient eastern dialect. Likely a compound of 我 (wa, see above) +‎ ろ (-ro, Old Japanese suffix indicating affection).

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [ɰᵝa̠ɾo̞]

• 吾

我 (hiragana わろ, rōmaji waro)

1. (regional, obsolete) first person personal pronoun: I, me, oneself
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 20, poem 4343)

     和呂多比波 多比等於米保等 已比尓志弖 古米知夜須良牟 和加美可奈志母

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

From 我 (a, see above) +‎ れ (-re, nominalizing suffix)

Fell into disuse in roughly the Heian period,[2] when it was replaced by ware (see above).

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [a̠ɾe̞]

• 吾

我 (hiragana あれ, rōmaji are)

1. (obsolete) first-person personal pronoun: I, me
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 5, poem 808)

     多都乃麻乎 阿礼波毛等米牟 阿遠尓与志 奈良乃美夜古迩 許牟比等乃多仁

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 14, poem 3361)

     安思我良能 乎弖毛許乃母尓 佐須和奈乃 可奈流麻之豆美 許呂安礼比毛等久

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 15, poem 3585)

     和伎母故我 之多尓毛伎余等 於久理多流 許呂母能比毛乎 安礼等可米也母

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 17, poem 3932)

     須麻比等乃 海辺都祢佐良受 夜久之保能 可良吉恋乎母 安礼波須流香物

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 18, poem 4058)

     多知婆奈能 登乎能多知婆奈 夜都代尓母 安礼波和須礼自 許乃多知婆奈乎

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 20, poem 4298)

     霜上尓 安良礼多婆之里 伊夜麻之尓 安礼波麻為許牟 年緒奈我久 _古今未詳

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • c. 1001–1014, Murasaki Shikibu, Genji Monogatari (Yume no Ukihashi)

     [...]と、聞こえ動かして、几帳のもとに、おし寄せたてまつりたれば、あれにもあらず、居給へるけはい[...]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

From Middle Chinese 我 (MC ŋɑ^X).

• On’yomi
  • (Tokyo) が [gà] (Heiban – [0])[2][3]
  • IPA^(key): [ɡa̠]

我 (hiragana が, rōmaji ga)

1. ego

• 我 (が)が強 (つよ)い (ga ga tsuyoi)
• 我 (が)を折 (お)る (ga o oru)
• 我 (が)を立 (た)てる (ga o tateru)
• 我 (が)を通 (とお)す (ga o tōsu)
• 我 (が)を張 (は)る (ga o haru)
• 我 (が)を折 (お)る (ga o oru)

我 (eumhun 나 아 (na a))

1. I, me

我: Hán Việt readings: ngã[1][2][3][4], ngả (語(ngữ)可(khả)切(thiết))[5]
我: Nôm readings: ngả[1][2][3][6][5][4][7], ngã[1][2][3][5][4][7]

1. Hán tự form of ngã, ngả (“(archaic) I; me”).
2. Nôm form of ngả (“way; direction”).
3. Nôm form of ngã (“to fall; to slip”).