Meaning
己 is a classical Chinese pronoun meaning 'oneself' or 'self.' It appears primarily in formal, literary, or set expressions rather than everyday speech. While modern Mandarin typically uses 自己 (zìjǐ) for 'oneself,' 己 survives in many fixed phrases and compounds.
Usage
Native speakers encounter 己 mainly in formal writing, chengyu (idioms), and traditional expressions. In casual conversation, people use 自己 instead. The character appears in common phrases like 知己 (close friend, literally 'one who knows oneself') and moral sayings like 己所不欲，勿施于人 ('don't do to others what you don't want done to yourself').
Examples
- 01他是我的知己朋友。.He is my close friend.
- 02己所不欲，勿施于人。, .Do not do to others what you don't want done to yourself.
Common collocations
- 知己close friend, bosom friend
- 克己self-discipline, to restrain oneself
- 利己self-interested, selfish
- 舍己为人to sacrifice oneself for others
Antonyms
Origin
己 is an ancient pictograph originally depicting a spool or reel used for silk thread, which later came to mean 'self' through phonetic borrowing. It is one of the ten Heavenly Stems used in the traditional Chinese calendar system.