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Definition 2024


U+4EBA, 人
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-4EBA

[U+4EB9]
CJK Unified Ideographs
[U+4EBB]
See also: and

Translingual

Stroke order

Alternative forms

  • (when used as a left radical)

Han character

(radical 9 人+0, 2 strokes, cangjie input 人 (O), four-corner 80000)

  1. Kangxi radical #9, (man).

Usage notes

In print, 人 may have symmetric legs. However in handwriting, to distinguish from , the right leg will be shorter, the shape looking like a ʎ; in 入 the left leg is shorter.

Derived characters

  • Index:Chinese radical/人

References

  • KangXi: page 91, character 1
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 344
  • Dae Jaweon: page 190, character 1
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 101, character 10
  • Unihan data for U+4EBA

Chinese

simp. and trad.
alt. forms component
𠆢 component

𠔽
𤯔

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Bamboo and silk script Large seal script Small seal script





References:

Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation),
which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including:

  • Shuowen Jiezi (small seal),
  • Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions),
  • Liushutong (large seal) and
  • Xu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).
Characters in the same phonetic series () (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
*sn̥ʰiːn
*sn̥ʰiːn
*sn̥ʰiːn, *sn̥ʰiːns
*sn̥ʰiːn
*sn̥ʰiːn
*sn̥ʰiːn
*sn̥ʰiːn
*njin
*njin
*njin
*neːŋs

Pictogram (象形) – resembles the legs of a human being. The ancient version of this character depicted a man with arms and legs. Compare .

Etymology 1

Pronunciation



  • Dialectal data
Variety Location
Mandarin Beijing /ʐən³⁵/
Harbin /ʐən²⁴/
/in²⁴/
Tianjin /in⁴⁵/
/ʐən⁴⁵/
Jinan /ʐẽ⁴²/
Qingdao /iə̃⁴²/
Zhengzhou /ʐən⁴²/
Xi'an /ʐẽ²⁴/
Xining /ʐə̃²¹³/
Yinchuan /ʐəŋ⁵³/
Lanzhou /ʐə̃n⁵³/
Ürümqi /ʐɤŋ⁵¹/
Wuhan /nən²¹³/
Chengdu /zən³¹/
Guiyang /zen²¹/
Kunming /ʐə̃³¹/
Nanjing /ʐən²⁴/
Hefei /ʐən⁵⁵/
Jin Taiyuan /zəŋ¹¹/
Pingyao /ʐəŋ¹³/
Hohhot /ʐə̃ŋ³¹/
Wu Shanghai /ȵiŋ²³/
/zəŋ²³/
Suzhou /zən¹³/
/ȵin¹³/
Hangzhou /zen²¹³/
Wenzhou /zaŋ³¹/ 文讀
/ȵaŋ³¹/ 白讀
/naŋ³¹/ 訓讀
Hui Shexian /iʌ̃⁴⁴/
/niʌ̃⁴⁴/
Tunxi /ian⁴⁴/
Xiang Changsha /ʐən¹³/
Xiangtan /in¹²/
Gan Nanchang /ȵin⁴⁵/
/lɨn⁴⁵/ ~參
Hakka Meixian /ŋin¹¹/
Taoyuan /ŋin¹¹/
Cantonese Guangzhou /jɐn²¹/
Nanning /jɐn²¹/
Hong Kong /jɐn²¹/
Min Xiamen (Min Nan) /lin³⁵/
Fuzhou (Min Dong) /iŋ⁵³/
Jian'ou (Min Bei) /neiŋ³³/
Shantou (Min Nan) /ziŋ⁵⁵/
/naŋ⁵⁵/ 訓讀
Haikou (Min Nan) /zin³¹/
/naŋ³¹/ 訓儂

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/1
Initial () (38)
Final () (43)
Tone (調) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open
Division () III
Fanqie
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/ȵiɪn/
Pan
Wuyun
/ȵin/
Shao
Rongfen
/ȵʑjen/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/ȵin/
Li
Rong
/ȵiĕn/
Wang
Li
/ȵʑĭĕn/
Bernard
Karlgren
/ȵʑi̯ĕn/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
rén
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
rén
Middle
Chinese
‹ nyin ›
Old
Chinese
/*ni[ŋ]/
English (other) person

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/1
No. 10800
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
1
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*njin/

Definitions

  1. man, person, people   (Classifier: )
  2. human being, Homo sapiens
    • /    rénlèi   humanity, human race, mankind
  3. body
  4. everybody, everyone
    • 人人   rénrén   everybody
    • 手一冊 / 手一册   rénshǒu yīcè   It's a bestseller. (lit. Everyone has a copy.)
  5. physical, psychological or moral quality or condition
  6. a person associated with a particular identity or trait; -er
  7. manpower, worker, employee
  8. talent, a person of talent
  9. other people
    • 云亦云   rényún yìyún   to follow the crowd (lit. to say what others say)
  10. common people, commoner
  11. adult, grown-up
    • 長大成 / 长大成   chángdà chéngrén   to grow up to be an adult
  12. reason
  13. sexual intercourse
    •    réndào   sexual intercourse
    •    rénshì   sexual intercourse
  14. company, companion, friend
  15. Alternative form of (rén, “kernel”).
  16. Alternative form of (rén, “charity”).
  17. artificial, man-made
    • /    rénhuò   human disaster
  18. mortal
    • /    rénjiān   the mortal world
  19. Alternative form of (rén, “loving, kind”).

Descendants

Sino-Xenic ():

Etymology 2

simp. and trad.
alt. forms
𠆧

The Min native word for "person"; used as a replacement character for . Use of is recommended by Taiwan's Ministry of Education.

Pronunciation 1


Definitions

(Min)

  1. man; person; people; human being; Homo sapiens
  2. a person associated with a particular identity or trait; -er
  3. physical, psychological or moral quality or condition

Pronunciation 2


Definitions

(Min)

  1. other people
  2. I, me

Compounds

Appendix:Chinese compounds/人

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
ひと
Grade: 1
kun'yomi

/pi1to2/ → */pitə//fito//hito/

From Old Japanese.

Pronunciation

Noun

(counter , hiragana ひと, katakana ヒト, romaji hito)

  1. person
  2. human
  3. someone else
Derived terms
Synonyms

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
にん
Grade: 1
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese (nyin, person). The goon, so likely the earlier borrowing.

Pronunciation

Counter

(hiragana にん, romaji -nin)

  1. people
Usage notes

The nin reading is used when counting three people or more. When counting one or two people as in 一人 (hitori, one person) or 二人 (futari, two people), the reading is (-ri).

Etymology 3

Kanji in this term
じん
Grade: 1
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese (nyin, person). The kan'on, so likely a later borrowing.

Pronunciation

Suffix

(hiragana じん, romaji -jin)

  1. person from that group
    アジア (じん)、イギリス (じん)、スペイン (じん)、ドイツ (じん)、アメリカ (じん)、スコットランド (じん)
    Ajiajin, Igirisujin, Supeinjin, Doitsujin, Amerikajin, Sukottorandojin
    an Asian, an Englishman, a Spaniard, a German, an American, a Scot
  2. person who does the activity of the suffixed word

References

  1. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  2. 1 2 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3
  3. 1 2 1997, 新明解国語辞典 (Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten), Fifth Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13143-0

Korean

Hanja

(in)
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul):  (revised: in, McCune-Reischauer: in, Yale: in)
  • Name (hangeul): 사람 (revised: saram, McCune-Reischauer: saram, Yale: salam)
  1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Compounds


Vietnamese

Hán tự in this word

Han character

(nhân, nhơn)

  1. (Northern Vietnam) Hán tự form of nhân, “human
  2. (Southern Vietnam) Hán tự form of nhơn, “human

Noun

  1. Abbreviation of người. (only in handwriting)
    con = con người

Alternative forms

References