私

sī
#1,021 most
frequent character
personal, private, selfish

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

私 has 禾 grain for meaning and 厶 sī for sound. It first meant the name of a kind of grain. The meaning 'private, personal' was borrowed for its sound, and from that came 'selfish.'

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Homophones

HSK 5
撕sī
to tear
思sī
to think, to consider
司sī
to take charge of, to manage
丝sī
silk, thread-like thing
斯sī
(phonetic), this

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