我 (wǒ): I, me, my

我 (wǒ) is a Chinese character meaning “i.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (structural) and 戈 (structural). It ranks #9 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 我 a hand 扌 holding a weapon 戈. Its radical form 戈 (halberd) appears in many related characters such as 成 (chéng, to succeed), 或 (huò, maybe), 戏 (xì, trick).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. I
  2. me
  3. my

Etymology & Origin

我

ideographicA hand 扌 holding a weapon 戈

Decomposition: ⿰扌戈 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Practice writing 我 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 我

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
我们pronounwǒ menwe1
自我pronounzì wǒthe self6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
我国nounwǒ guómy country
依我看phraseyī wǒ kànin my opinion
我方nounwǒ fāngour side
你死我活phrasenǐ sǐ wǒ huólit. you die, I live (idiom)
我行我素phrasewǒ xíng wǒ sùto continue in one's own way (idiom)
卿卿我我phraseqīng qīng wǒ wǒto bill and coo (idiom)
忘我verbwàng wǒselflessness
自我陶醉zì wǒ táo zuìself-satisfied
敌我noundí wǒthe enemy and us
时不我待phraseshí bù wǒ dài(idiom) time and tide wait for no man
小我nounxiǎo wǒthe self
我操interjectionwǒ cào(substitute for 我肏) fuck
大我noundà wǒthe collective
你争我夺nǐ zhēng wǒ duólit. you fight, I snatch (idiom)
自我批评verbzì wǒ pī píngself-criticism
67
Total compounds
28
As first character
18
As last character
54
As middle character

我 appears in 67 compound words: 28 as the first character, 18 as the last, and 54 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 我 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

你nǐ
0.57553,278 co-occurrences
们men
0.571113,987 co-occurrences
说shuō
0.42118,134 co-occurrences
啊a
0.4161,952 co-occurrences
忘wàng
0.4144,102 co-occurrences
自zì
0.41359,316 co-occurrences
怎zěn
0.4072,628 co-occurrences
爱ài
0.4049,126 co-occurrences
不bù
0.39469,062 co-occurrences
懂dǒng
0.3931,824 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (23)

敌众我寡dízhòngwǒguǎHSK 7+

to be outnumbered by one's enemy

phrase
对我来说duì wǒ lái shuōHSK 1+

in my opinion; as far as I'm concerned; to my mind; the way I see it

phrase
尔虞我诈ěryúwǒzhà

to cheat or deceive one another

phrase
据我所知jùwǒsuǒzhīHSK 3+

as far as I know; to my knowledge

phrase
你情我愿nǐqíngwǒyuànHSK 3+

consensual, something with mutual consent

phrase
你死我活nǐsǐwǒhuóHSK 4+

irreconcilable adversaries; two parties cannot coexist

phrase
你争我夺nǐ zhēng wǒ duóHSK 6+

lit. you fight, I snatch (idiom); to compete fiercely offering no quarter; fierce rivalry; tug-of-war

phrase
你追我赶nǐ zhuī wǒ gǎnHSK 5+

friendly one-upmanship; to try to emulate

phrase
卿卿我我qīngqīngwǒwǒ

whispers of love; lovers' talk; to bill and coo; to be very much in love; intimate relations

phrase
如是我闻rúshìwǒwénHSK 3+

Thus have I heard... (a common opening of Buddhist texts)

phrase
时不我待shíbùwǒdàiHSK 4+

time waits for no one

phrase
岁不我与suìbùwǒyǔHSK 4+

to have missed an opportunity; time and tide wait for no man

phrase

Showing 12 of 23 idioms containing 我.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我觉得这个决定需要再考虑一下,毕竟关系到公司的未来发展。

Wǒ juéde zhè gè juédìng xūyào zài kǎolǜ yīxià, bìjìng guānxì dào gōngsī de wèilái fāzhǎn.

I think this decision needs to be reconsidered, as it concerns the future development of the company.

百度新闻Feb 2026

“新春走基层·春节我在岗”这个春节,她的身影真美!

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng chūn jié wǒ zài gǎng zhè gè chūn jié , tā de shēn yǐng zhēn měi !

"New Year to the grassroots, I am at work during the Spring Festival", her figure is so beautiful!

百度新闻Feb 2026

冬奥会|家乡连线:“我儿子是冠军!”——宁忠岩家乡..

dōng ào huì jiā xiāng lián xiàn : wǒ ér zǐ shì guàn jūn ! — — nìng zhōng yán jiā xiāng . .

Winter Olympics|Hometown Connection: "My son is a champion!" ——Ning Zhongyan's hometown:

百度新闻Feb 2026

“我女儿就是战神!”

wǒ nǚ ér jiù shì zhàn shén !

"My daughter is the God of War!"

百度新闻Feb 2026

我的新年“特供”丨订单翻倍!小碗梨成春节假...

wǒ de xīn nián tè gōng 丨 dìng shàn fān bèi ! xiǎo wǎn lí chéng chūn jié jiǎ . . .

My New Year's Special丨Double your order! The new year's holiday is a great opportunity to see how the new year is going to play out for you.

百度新闻Feb 2026

菲律宾海警在我南沙群岛附近海域扔下两个黑色桶状物,..

菲 lǜ bīn hǎi jǐng zài wǒ nán shā qún dǎo fù jìn hǎi yù rēng xià liǎng gě hēi sè tǒng zhuàng wù , . .

The Philippine Coast Guard dropped two black barrel-shaped objects in waters near our Spratly Islands...

Tatoeba

你好!我叫汤姆。你叫什么?

Nǐhǎo! wǒ jiào Tāngmǔ. nǐ jiào shénme?

Hi, my name's Tom. What's yours?

Tatoeba

我们什么时候到达?

Wǒmen shénmeshíhou dàodá?

When do we arrive?

Tatoeba

我们今晚出去吃怎么样?

Wǒmen jīnwǎn chūqù chī zěnmeyàng?

How about dining out tonight?

Tatoeba

请你让我一下好吗?

Qǐng nǐ ràng wǒ yīxià hǎo ma?

Will you let me have a go?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced wǒ

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 我 (wǒ) mean in Chinese?
我 (wǒ) primarily means "i." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #9 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 我 have?
我 is written with 7 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 我?
The radical associated with 我 is 戈 (halberd). This radical appears in many characters related to halberd.
What are the components of 我?
我 is composed of: 扌 (structural), 戈 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌戈 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 我?
Common words with 我 include: 我们 (wǒ men, "we"); 自我 (zì wǒ, "the self"); 我国 (wǒ guó, "my country"); 依我看 (yī wǒ kàn, "in my opinion"); 我方 (wǒ fāng, "our side"). There are over 67 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 我 (wǒ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation wǒ: 握 (to hold), 卧 (to lie), 沃 (fertile), 窝 (nest), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 我 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 我 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 我 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.