• 私立しりつ — private (institution)
• 私事しじ — personal matters
• 私有しゆう — private ownership
• 私生活しせいかつ — private life
• 私わたし — I / me (neutral, formal)
• 私わたくし — I / me (very formal, polite)

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私 combines 禾 (grain) with ム (private/self), originally referring to claiming one’s share of grain. From this sense of personal possession, it developed into meanings of “private” and “personal,” and is now the standard character for the first-person pronoun (わたし / わたくし).

On-yomi シ is frequent in compounds about privacy and ownership, while the kun-yomi forms are widely used in daily conversation.

私わたしは 日本にほんの 文化ぶんかに 興味きょうみがあります。
I am interested in Japanese culture.

この 学校がっこうは 私立しりつです。
This school is privately operated.