I; me

我 began as a picture of a hand gripping a bladed weapon — an ancient way of saying this one is mine to defend. Over time the weapon-and-hand shape settled into today’s form, but the sense of standing your ground stuck: it became the word for I / me.

Look at 我 as two jagged blades meeting in the middle: the self as the point where your claim and someone else’s claim push against each other. Whichever way you read the strokes, the character has always marked out whose something is — which is exactly what “I / me” does in a sentence.