How to say "self" in Japanese

• 自身じしんJLPT N3approx.Common
  noun, noun (suffix)Covers the emphatic personal sense — 'myself', 'yourself', 'himself' — stressing that the person concerned, and no one else, is meant, as when someone does something in person.
  ジェーン自身じしんがこの手紙てがみを書かいた。↗

  Jane wrote the letter herself.
• 自己じこJLPT N1approx.Common
  no-adjectiveThe abstract 'self' as a concept — the self regarded as an object of one's own thought and awareness; formal in tone, it often appears in compounds and set expressions about the self.
  彼かれは自己じこを没却ぼっきゃくする男おとこではない。↗

  He knows how to assert himself.
• 自我じがJLPT N1approx.Common
  nounThe self in the psychological sense — the ego, one's sense of identity. Not the everyday word for 'oneself'; it belongs to discussions of the mind, self-awareness, and individuality.

Choose 自身 for the emphatic 'myself/himself' about a person, 自己 for the abstract or formal 'self' as a concept, and 自我 for the psychological self — the ego or one's sense of identity.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 自身じしん(one's) self
• 自己じこself
• 主我しゅがego
• 自我じがself