<p>English also has ancient words, right? For example, English people used to use the word <code>thou</code> rather than <code>you</code>. It is the same in Chinese. 余 is the ancient word of 我.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-01T07:47:43.103Z
2013-12-01T07:47:43.103Z
Victor
<p>我 is also used in ancient times. For example, in 戰國策 之 鄒忌諷齊王納諫</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>鄒忌脩八尺有餘，而形貌昳麗。朝服衣冠，窺鏡，謂其妻曰：「我孰與城北徐公美？」其妻曰：「君美甚，徐公何能及君也。」城北徐公，齊國之美麗者也。忌不自信，而復問其妾曰：「吾孰與徐公美？」妾曰：「徐公何能及君也。」旦曰，客從外來，與坐談。問之曰：「吾與徐公孰美？」客曰：「徐公不若君之美也。」明日，徐公來，熟視之，自以為不如；窺鏡而自視，又弗如遠甚。暮寢而思之曰：「吾妻之美我者，私我也；妾之美我者，畏我也；客之美我者，欲有求於我也。」於是入朝見威王曰：「臣誠知不如徐公美。臣之妻私臣，臣之妾畏臣，臣之客欲有求於臣，皆以美於徐公。今齊，地方千里，百二時城。宮婦左右，莫不私王；朝廷之臣，莫不畏王；四境之內，莫不有求於王。由此觀之，王之蔽甚矣。」王曰：「善！」乃下令：「群臣吏民能面刺寡人之過者，受上賞；上書諫寡人者，受中賞；能謗議於市朝，聞寡人之耳者，受下賞。」令初下，群臣進諫，門庭若市；數月之後，時時而間進；諅年之後，雖欲言，無可進者。燕、趙、韓、魏聞之，皆朝於齊。此所謂戰勝於朝廷。</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-19T06:37:45.473Z
2013-08-19T06:37:45.473Z
George
<p>Practically, 余 is no long in use unless in poems or classic literature.</p>

<p>It would be more interesting to look at the various characters refer to 'I'.</p>

<p>我 is certainly the most widely used one.<br>
咱 is colloquial.<br>
俺 is more colloquial and vulgar.<br>
阿拉 is commonly used in Shanghainese dialect.<br>
吾 is in Cantonese dialect.</p>

<p>– and the list goes on.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-31T07:41:46.833Z
吾 is seldom heard in modern Cantonese. (Did you mean `唔(not)`?)
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-31T17:12:12.433Z
吾系差人 means I am a police. Isn't it?
user2404894
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-01T04:46:51.170Z
That's [我](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can/search.php?q=%A7%DA) (ngo5), not [吾](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can/search.php?q=%A7%5E) (ng4). See the links from 香港中文大學粵語審音配詞字庫 above. Now 吾 (as **I**) is hardly heard, because it sounds like 唔 and this would make people misunderstand a sentence.
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-31T07:17:07.760Z
2013-12-09T01:26:24.647Z
2013-12-09T01:26:24.647Z
user2404894
<p>Recent researches show that there are differences in grammatical forms of the 2 characters in ancient scripts before or in Qin Dynasty (approx. before 207 B.C.), but in later classical Chinese literature, they are synonyms.</p>

<p>In today's language, 余 as a pronoun has died and only can be seen when people try to <strong>write</strong> in classical Chinese.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2013-12-19T08:28:51.740Z
2020-06-08T21:20:52.253Z
2020-06-08T21:20:52.253Z
Joseph S WU
<p>As Stan said 余 is archaic and only found in literature. As in</p>

<pre><code>余既为此志。——明· 归有光《项脊轩志》
</code></pre>

<p>我 is what modern-day Chinese use as the first-person pronoun.</p>

<pre><code>我喜欢吃苹果。
</code></pre>

<p>I asked some Chinese friends and they only recognized 余 as a surname or meaning surplus or extra.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-27T14:09:12.107Z
In traditional Chinese areas, 餘 is used *specially* for the meaning meaning surplus or extra. Though, 余 is also a traditional character and was used as an interchangeable character of 餘, today Hong Kong and Taiwan people use these two discriminatively.
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-27T09:15:29.317Z
2013-07-27T13:59:00.640Z
2013-07-27T13:59:00.640Z
tao
<p>余 and 我 both mean I. But I still can't understand the real difference. Also, I want an example sentence. When I use Google Translate and Bing Translator, the result is same.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-08T16:13:14.827Z
@Christian: Compare the normal Indonesian (or at least Malay) word for ‘I’, either _aku_ or _saya_, or the enclitic possessive form _-ku_. Those are the modern words, corresponding to 我 ‘I’ and 我的 and ‘my’ in Chinese. 余 would then correspond to the Classical Malay words for ‘I’ and ‘my’, which were apparently _kitta_ and _kitta poonea_, respectively—something I am guessing is completely incomprehensible to modern Indonesians.
Janus Bahs Jacquet
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-14T10:20:36.290Z
「余」（古輔音爲 *l-）和「吾/我」（古輔音爲 *ŋ-）的來源不同。在使用上的區別是，「余」作表所屬關係的定語時必須加「之」（如余之子），「吾/我」不加（如我子、吾子）。「我」是古漢語中延續下來的人稱代詞，並不是後起的。
Mike Manilone
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-27T07:35:18.417Z
余 is from ancient Chinese, like `予/吾`. See wiki [汉语人称代词](http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD%E4%BA%BA%E7%A7%B0%E4%BB%A3%E8%AF%8D). And 我 is a modern style.
Stan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-27T09:50:35.953Z
@Stan But I'm wonder, why 余 pronounce yu with second sound. But the 我 is pronounced wo with third sound
Christian Irwan Hadi Wicaksana
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-27T09:57:37.083Z
@ChristianIrwanHadiWicaksana Simply because they are two different characters.
Yu Hao
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-27T10:01:18.810Z
Yu is right. Just like synonyms in English -- they don't have to be pronounced the same.
Stan
<difference><word>
Difference of 余 and 我
# Difference of 余 and 我

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-07-27)

余 and 我 both mean I. But I still can't understand the real difference. Also, I want an example sentence. When I use Google Translate and Bing Translator, the result is same.

**Tags:** difference, word

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: 余 is from ancient Chinese, like `予/吾`. See wiki [汉语人称代词](http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B1%89%E8%AF%AD%E4%BA%BA%E7%A7%B0%E4%BB%A3%E8%AF%8D). And 我 is a modern style.  
> **username_0**: @username_3 But I'm wonder, why 余 pronounce yu with second sound. But the 我 is pronounced wo with third sound  
> **username_4**: @username_0 Simply because they are two different characters.  
> **username_3**: Yu is right. Just like synonyms in English -- they don't have to be pronounced the same.  
> **username_1**: @username_0: Compare the normal Indonesian (or at least Malay) word for ‘I’, either _aku_ or _saya_, or the enclitic possessive form _-ku_. Those are the modern words, corresponding to 我 ‘I’ and 我的 and ‘my’ in Chinese. 余 would then correspond to the Classical Malay words for ‘I’ and ‘my’, which were apparently _kitta_ and _kitta poonea_, respectively—something I am guessing is completely incomprehensible to modern Indonesians.  
> **username_2**: 「余」（古輔音爲 *l-）和「吾/我」（古輔音爲 *ŋ-）的來源不同。在使用上的區別是，「余」作表所屬關係的定語時必須加「之」（如余之子），「吾/我」不加（如我子、吾子）。「我」是古漢語中延續下來的人稱代詞，並不是後起的。  

---

## 5 answers

### Answer by username_9 on 2013-07-27. Score: 12 | Accepted answer

As username_3 said 余 is archaic and only found in literature. As in

```
余既为此志。——明· 归有光《项脊轩志》

```

我 is what modern-day Chinese use as the first-person pronoun.

```
我喜欢吃苹果。

```

I asked some Chinese friends and they only recognized 余 as a surname or meaning surplus or extra.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: In traditional Chinese areas, 餘 is used *specially* for the meaning meaning surplus or extra. Though, 余 is also a traditional character and was used as an interchangeable character of 餘, today Hong Kong and Taiwan people use these two discriminatively.  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2013-12-01. Score: 1

English also has ancient words, right? For example, English people used to use the word `thou` rather than `you`. It is the same in Chinese. 余 is the ancient word of 我.


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2013-08-19. Score: 0

我 is also used in ancient times. For example, in 戰國策 之 鄒忌諷齊王納諫

> 鄒忌脩八尺有餘，而形貌昳麗。朝服衣冠，窺鏡，謂其妻曰：「我孰與城北徐公美？」其妻曰：「君美甚，徐公何能及君也。」城北徐公，齊國之美麗者也。忌不自信，而復問其妾曰：「吾孰與徐公美？」妾曰：「徐公何能及君也。」旦曰，客從外來，與坐談。問之曰：「吾與徐公孰美？」客曰：「徐公不若君之美也。」明日，徐公來，熟視之，自以為不如；窺鏡而自視，又弗如遠甚。暮寢而思之曰：「吾妻之美我者，私我也；妾之美我者，畏我也；客之美我者，欲有求於我也。」於是入朝見威王曰：「臣誠知不如徐公美。臣之妻私臣，臣之妾畏臣，臣之客欲有求於臣，皆以美於徐公。今齊，地方千里，百二時城。宮婦左右，莫不私王；朝廷之臣，莫不畏王；四境之內，莫不有求於王。由此觀之，王之蔽甚矣。」王曰：「善！」乃下令：「群臣吏民能面刺寡人之過者，受上賞；上書諫寡人者，受中賞；能謗議於市朝，聞寡人之耳者，受下賞。」令初下，群臣進諫，門庭若市；數月之後，時時而間進；諅年之後，雖欲言，無可進者。燕、趙、韓、魏聞之，皆朝於齊。此所謂戰勝於朝廷。


---

### Answer by username_7 on 2013-07-31. Score: 0

Practically, 余 is no long in use unless in poems or classic literature.

It would be more interesting to look at the various characters refer to 'I'.

我 is certainly the most widely used one.  
咱 is colloquial.  
俺 is more colloquial and vulgar.  
阿拉 is commonly used in Shanghainese dialect.  
吾 is in Cantonese dialect.

– and the list goes on.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: 吾 is seldom heard in modern Cantonese. (Did you mean `唔(not)`?)  
> **username_7**: 吾系差人 means I am a police. Isn't it?  
> **username_3**: That's [我](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can/search.php?q=%A7%DA) (ngo5), not [吾](http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can/search.php?q=%A7%5E) (ng4). See the links from 香港中文大學粵語審音配詞字庫 above. Now 吾 (as **I**) is hardly heard, because it sounds like 唔 and this would make people misunderstand a sentence.  

---

### Answer by username_8 on 2013-12-19. Score: 0

Recent researches show that there are differences in grammatical forms of the 2 characters in ancient scripts before or in Qin Dynasty (approx. before 207 B.C.), but in later classical Chinese literature, they are synonyms.

In today's language, 余 as a pronoun has died and only can be seen when people try to **write** in classical Chinese.


---

