吾

吾 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+4, 7 strokes, cangjie input 一一口 (MMR), four-corner 1060₁, composition ⿱五口)

• 俉, 𠗐, 語 (语), 捂, 唔, 峿, 浯, 悟, 娪, 㹳, 珸, 梧, 啎, 牾, 晤, 焐, 䏸, 䎸, 𥟊, 鋙 (铻), 齬 (龉/𪘚), 䮏, 鯃, 鼯, 郚, 敔, 㐚, 䦜, 圄, 痦, 逜, 衙, 䓊, 寤, 窹

• KangXi: page 180, character 3
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3379
• Dae Jaweon: page 398, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 585, character 13
• Unihan data for U+543E

Historical forms of the character 吾
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

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *ŋraː, *ŋaː) : phonetic 五 (OC *ŋaːʔ) + semantic 口 (“mouth”).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ŋa-j ~ ka (“I”). Cognate with Burmese ငါ (nga, “I”), 我 (OC *ŋaːlʔ, “I”), Hakka 𠊎 (ngài, “I”).

吾

1. (literary or dialectal) I

   • 吾嘗終日而思矣，不如須臾之所學也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     吾尝终日而思矣，不如须臾之所学也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Xunzi, c. 3^rd century BCE

     Wú cháng zhōngrì ér sī yǐ, bùrú xūyú zhī suǒ xué yě. [Pinyin]

     I have once engaged in thinking for the whole day, and it could not compare with a moment of learning.

   • 如有政，雖不吾以，吾其與聞之。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     如有政，虽不吾以，吾其与闻之。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Rú yǒu zhèng, suī bù wú yǐ, wú qí yù wén zhī. [Pinyin]

     If there had been government business, though I am now not appointed, I should have been consulted about it.

   • 吾觀全地球之社會，未有凌亂舊金山之華人者。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     吾观全地球之社会，未有凌乱旧金山之华人者。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1904 February, Liang Qichao, "Travel Notes of the New Continent"

     Wú guān quán dìqiú zhī shèhuì, wèi yǒu língluàn Jiùjīnshān zhī huárén zhě. [Pinyin]

     From all the societies I have seen in the world, there is no society as disorderly as the Chinese community in San Francisco.

2. (literary or dialectal) my
   • 吾皇 [Classical Chinese]  ―  wú huáng [Pinyin]  ―  my emperor
   • 吾姆 [Sixian Hakka]  ―  ngâ mê [Pha̍k-fa-sṳ]  ―  my mom
3. a surname. Wu

Before the Three Kingdoms period, 吾 ("I") was mostly only used as a subject, a pronoun object of a negated sentence or an interrogative pronoun object (the latter two cases are where the pronoun object is placed before the verb), meaning 吾 seldom occurred as the pronoun object that is placed after a verb.

吾

1. Only used in 允吾 (yányá; qiānyá). A county established during the Western Han, disestablished during the Northern Wei, and briefly reestablished during the Sui dynasty

吾

1. Only used in 吾吾.

• “吾”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

1. I, me

• Go-on: ぐ (gu)
• Kan-on: ご (go)
• Kun: われ (ware, 吾); わが (waga, 吾が); あ (a, 吾); あが (aga, 吾)

吾 • (o) (hangeul 오, revised o, McCune–Reischauer o)

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

吾 (wa) (kana わ)

1. I, oneself

• Satsugū dialect: おい (oi)

吾: Hán Nôm readings: ngô, ngo

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

• Thiều Chửu : Hán Việt Tự Điển Hà Nội 1942
• Trần Văn Chánh: Từ Điển Hán Việt NXB Trẻ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999
• Vũ Văn Kính: Đại Tự Điển Chữ Nôm, NXB Văn Nghệ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999