自撮り（じどり、jidori）
- selfie

The Japanese word 自撮り means "selfie" or "taking a picture of oneself." It is a relatively new word, reflecting the rise of smartphones and social media. It describes the act of taking a photograph of oneself, typically with a smartphone or camera held at arm's length. The word directly translates to "self-shot" or "self-taken photograph." The 自撮り image can be shared on social media platforms or stored for personal use.

⚫︎ 週末は、友達と遊んで自撮りしました。 Translation: I played with my friends and took selfies on the weekend. ⚫︎ 彼女は新しいカメラで自撮りの練習をしています。 Translation: She is practicing taking selfies with her new camera. ⚫︎ この写真は、自撮りじゃないよ。友達が撮ってくれたんだ。 Translation: This picture isn't a selfie. My friend took it.

You can use 自撮り in various contexts, from casual conversations with friends to more formal discussions about photography. It's a very common word in daily Japanese life, especially among young people. You can use it when describing your actions, someone else's actions, or when talking about a picture that has been taken. It's perfectly fine to use the noun form, such as 自撮り写真 (selfie photo), or the verb form, such as 自撮りする (to take a selfie). You can also use it with particles like を (o) when indicating that the act of taking a 自撮り is done.

⚫︎ The word 自撮り is typically written in hiragana as じどり. ⚫︎ However, when writing the full word with kanji, it is 自撮り. ⚫︎ There are no significant variations in the okurigana. The particle following 自撮り might change based on grammatical context.

⚫︎ There are no direct synonyms in Japanese, as 自撮り is the common and most widely understood term for "selfie." ⚫︎ However, you could use more descriptive phrases if you want to avoid the word 自撮り: for example, 自分の写真を撮る (jigai no shashin o toru), meaning "to take a photo of oneself," but this is not as commonly used as 自撮り.

There are no direct antonyms for "selfie" in the same sense. It's not the kind of word that has an opposite. However, if you are talking about someone else taking a picture of you, as opposed to you taking a picture of yourself, you would simply use the verb 撮る (toru), meaning "to take a picture," without the "self" aspect.

私は毎朝、起きたら自撮りをして、SNSにアップしています。 ・Translation: I take a selfie every morning when I wake up and upload it to social media. ・Explanation: This sentence explains the speaker's routine of taking 自撮り and sharing the pictures online.

旅行に行った時、綺麗な景色をバックに自撮りしました。 ・Translation: When I went on a trip, I took a selfie with the beautiful scenery in the background. ・Explanation: This sentence explains when and where the person took the selfie. It uses the scenery to illustrate the context.

The word 自撮り is a combination of two kanji: 自 (ji) meaning "self" or "oneself," and 撮り (tori) from the verb 撮る (toru) meaning "to take a picture" or "to shoot." Therefore, the etymology of 自撮り is quite straightforward and literally means "self-shot."