kami

See also: Kami, kāmi, and kāmī

English

A painting depicting Amaterasu, an important female kami in the Shinto religion.

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Japanese 神 (kami, “god, spirit, deity”).

Noun

kami (plural kamis or kami)

1. (religion, Shinto) An animistic God or spirit in the Shinto religion of Japan.
2. (philosophy) The metaphysical causal generator of motion, life, or divinish aura.

Translations

a god or spirit in the Shinto religion of Japan

• Japanese: 神 (ja) (kami)

Etymology 2

Two sheets of kami for origami, and a traditional origami crane.

Borrowed from Japanese 紙 (kami, “paper”).

Noun

kami (plural kami)

1. (papercraft) A basic origami paper, usually printed with a colour or pattern on one side.

Translations

origami paper

• Japanese: 紙 (ja) (kami)

Anagrams

• Mika, maki

Aklanon

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronoun

kami

1. we (exclusive)

Alangan

Pronoun

kamí

1. we (exclusive of the person spoken to)

Amis

Etymology

From Proto-Austronesian *kami. Compare Malay kami (“we”).

Pronoun

kami

1. we (exclusive of the person spoken to)

See also

Amis personal pronouns
Person		Singular	Plural
1st	—	kako	kami / kita
	inclusive		kami
	exclusive		kita / kami
2nd	—	kiso	kamo
3rd	—	ciira	caira

Bikol Central

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kami, from Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈmi/, [kaˈmi]
• Hyphenation: ka‧mi

Pronoun

kamí (Basahan spelling ᜃᜋᜒ)

1. we (exclusive of the person spoken to)

   Nagtatrabaho kami sa sarong kompanya. Ika?

   We work at a company. You?

See also

Bikol Central personal pronouns

Person	Number	Absolute (ang)		Ergative (sa)		Oblique (sa)
Length		Full	Short	Full	Short
First	singular	ako		ko		sakuya, sako, saako
	plural inclusive	kita		nyato	ta	satuya, sato, saato
	plural exclusive	kami		nyamo	mi	samuya, samo, kanamo, saamo
Second	singular	ika	ka	mo		saimo, simo,kanimo
	plural	kamo		nindo		saindo, kaninyo, sainyo
Third	singular	siya, iya		niya		saiya, kaniya
	plural	sinda		ninda		sainda, kanila

Cebuano

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ka‧mi
• IPA^(key): /kaˈmi/, [kʌˈmi]

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronoun

kamí (Badlit spelling ᜃᜋᜒ)

1. we; us (1st person plural exclusive absolutive form)

See also

Cebuano personal pronouns

Person	Number	Absolute (ang/si)		Ergative (sa/ni)		Ergative (preposed)	Oblique (sa/og)
Length		Full	Short	Full	Short	Full	Full	Short
First	singular	ako	ko*	nako	ko	ako/akoa	kanako	nako
	plural inclusive	kita	ta	nato	ta	ato/atoa	kanato	nato
	plural exclusive	kami	mi	namo	mo	amo/amoa	kanamo	namo
Second	singular	ikaw	ka	nimo	mo	imo/imoha	kanimo	nimo
	plural	kamo	ka	ninyo		inyo/inyoha	kaninyo	ninyo
Third	singular	siya		niya		iya/iyaha	kaniya	niya
	plural	sila		nila		ila/ilaha	kanila	nila
*Ta is used over ko where the object is a second-person singular pronoun.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Giangan kami.

Noun

kamí (Badlit spelling ᜃᜋᜒ)

1. (Davao) Indonesian cinnamon (Cinnamomum burmanni)

French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

kami m (plural kami)

1. kami (spirit)

Further reading

• “kami”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Hiligaynon

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kami, from Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ka‧mi
• IPA^(key): /kaˈmi/, [kaˈmi]

Pronoun

kamí

1. we (exclusive)

Iban

Etymology

From Proto-Malayic *kami, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kami, from Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.mi/

Pronoun

kami

1. we (exclusive)

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay kami, from Proto-Malayic *kami, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kami, from Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkä.mi/

• Audio

  (file)

Pronoun

kami

1. we (exclusive); I and other(s) but not those I am addressing

   Kami sudah pergi ke pasar. ― We have been to the market.

   • 1966, National Pledge of Singapore

     Kami, warganegara Singapura,
     sebagai rakyat yang bersatu padu,
     tidak kira apa bangsa, bahasa, atau ugama […]

     We, the citizens of Singapore,
     pledge ourselves as one united people,
     regardless of race, language or religion […]

2. we: the speaker/writer alone. (This use of we is the editorial we, used by writers and others, including royalty—the royal we—as a less personal substitute for I. The reflexive case of this sense of we is ourself.)
3. us (exclusive); me and other(s) but not those I am addressing

   Dia memberikan kami makanan. ― He gave us food.

4. our (exclusive); my and of other(s) but not of those I am addressing

   Bolehkah kamu taruh buku kami di perpustakaan?. ― . Can you put our books in the library?

5. ours (if used with milik, kepunyaan, etc.)

   Hak Milik tanah bangsa Indonesia hanya untuk kami sekalian. ― It is only we [Indonesians] who have the right to own this Indonesian land.

Synonyms

Indonesian first-person pronouns:

• aye, ogut, gue, gua (Jakarta)
• aku (informal)
• daku (poetic)
• saya (formal)
• hamba
• kami (euphemism)

Related terms

• kita

Further reading

• “kami” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Inonhan

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kami, from Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronoun

kami

1. we; us (exclusive of the person spoken to)

Japanese

Romanization

kami

1. Rōmaji transcription of かみ

Javanese

Romanization

kami

1. Romanization of ꦏꦩꦶ.

Malay

Etymology

From Proto-Malayic *kami, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kami, from Proto-Austronesian *kami, from Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kami/
• Rhymes: -ami, -mi, -i

• Audio (MY)

  (file)

Pronoun

kami (Jawi spelling کامي)

1. we, us, our (exclusive of the person spoken to)
2. I, me, my

Synonyms

• kita orang (nonstandard)

Related terms

• kita (inclusive of the person spoken to)

Descendants

• Indonesian: kami

See also

Malay personal pronouns

		singular	plural
1st person	standard	saya / ساي aku/ku- / اکو / كو- (informal/towards God) -ku / -كو (informal possessive) hamba / همبا (dated)	kami / کامي (exclusive) kita orang / كيت اورڠ (informal exclusive) kita / کيت (inclusive)
	royal	beta / بيتا
2nd person	standard	kamu / کامو anda / اندا (formal)
		engkau/kau- / اڠکاو/ كاو- (informal/towards God) awak / اوق (friendly/older towards younger) -mu / -مو (possessive)	awak semua / اوق سموا kamu semua / كامو سموا kalian / کالين (informal) kau orang / كاو اورڠ (informal)
	royal	tuanku / توانكو
3rd person	standard	dia / دي ia / اي beliau / بلياو (honorific) -nya / -ڽ (possessive)	mereka / مريک dia orang / دي اورڠ (informal)
	royal	baginda / بݢيندا

Further reading

• “kami” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Mansaka

Pronoun

kami

1. we (exclusive)

Maranao

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kami, from Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronoun

kami

1. we (exclusive)

Musi

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kami/

Pronoun

kami

1. we (exclusive); I and other(s) but not those I am addressing
2. we: the speaker/writer alone. (This use of we is the editorial we, used by writers and others, including royalty—the royal we—as a less personal substitute for I. The reflexive case of this sense of we is ourself.)
3. us (exclusive); me and other(s) but not those I am addressing
4. our (exclusive); my and of other(s) but not of those I am addressing
5. ours

Related terms

• kitéq

Ratagnon

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kami, from Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronoun

kamí

1. we (exclusive of the person spoken to)

Sakizaya

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronoun

kami

1. we (exclusive)

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *kamy, preserving the reflex of word-final */y/, which was lost in standard words kȃm and kȁmēn.

Noun

kami m (Cyrillic spelling ками)

1. (regional, obsolete) stone

References

• Skok, Petar (1972) “kami”, in Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika [Etymological Dictionary of the Croatian or Serbian Language] (in Serbo-Croatian), volumes 2 (K – poni¹), Zagreb: JAZU, page 26

Tagalog

Alternative forms

• cami — obsolete, Spanish-based orthography
• kmi — Internet and text messaging slang

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kami, from Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ka‧mi
• IPA^(key): /kaˈmi/, [kɐˈmi]
• IPA^(key): /kaˈme/, [kɐˈmɛ] (colloquial)

• Audio

  (file)

Pronoun

kamí (Baybayin spelling ᜃᜋᜒ)

1. we (exclusive of the person spoken to)

   Nagtatrabaho kami sa isang kumpanya. Ikaw?

   We work at a company. You?

Derived terms

• kami-kami

 

See also

Tagalog personal pronouns

Person	Number	Direct (ang)	Indirect (ng)	Oblique (sa)
First	singular	ako	ko	akin
	dual*	kita, kata	nita, nata, ta	kanita, kanata, ata
	plural inclusive	tayo	natin	atin
	plural exclusive	kami	namin	amin
First & Second	singular	kita**
Second	singular	ikaw, ka	mo	iyo
	plural	kayo, kamo	ninyo, niyo	inyo
Third	singular	siya	niya	kaniya
	plural	sila	nila	kanila
* First person dual pronouns are not commonly used. ** Replaces "ko ikaw".

Further reading

• “kami”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

Tausug

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kami, from Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronoun

kamí

1. we (exclusive)

West Albay Bikol

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kami, from Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronoun

kamí

1. we (exclusive of the person spoken to)

Yogad

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kami, from Proto-Austronesian *kami.

Pronoun

kami

1. we (exclusive of the person spoken to)