Hito [人] – Referring to People in Japanese

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In this article, we will study in depth the kanji ideogram for person, which in Japanese is [人]. You will learn not only how to say person in Japanese, but also various related words.

The kanji hito [人] is one of the easiest and one of the first we learn when studying Japanese. Its meaning is simple and direct, basically referring to a person. Its main pronunciation “hito” [ひと] can be literally translated to person.

Meanings of HITO [人]

Like any ideogram in the Japanese language, its drawing tries to convey an idea and essence, and in the case of the ideogram [人], we can well visualize a person, with two legs.

See below other readings of the Ideogram of Person:

Kun yomi: to[-と] / hito[ひと] / ri[-り];
On yomi: jin[ジン] / nin[ニン];
Namess: [じ] [と] [ね] [ひこ] [ふみ]

The Meaning of Hito [人] clearly means person, but depending on the context or word, it can mean in the plural, humanity, human being, personality, talented man, true man, and adult. (Of course, there are specific words to express these meanings.)

We also recommend reading:

• How to know if the Kanji reading is ON or KUN?
• Pictographic Kanji – Ideograms and pictograms
• How to Discover the Kanji or Ideogram?

Defining People by Location

With this Kanji, it is possible to define the nationality of any person or assign a name to an occupation. In Japanese, you may have noticed that to refer to a person of a certain nationality or place, we use the name of the country or locality + jin [人]:

• Brazilian ブラジル人 (Burajiru-jin)
• Japanese 日本人 (Nihon-jin)
• Roman ローマ人 (Roma-jin)
• American アメリカン人 (Amerikan-jin)
• Goiano ゴイアス人 (Goiasu-jin)
• Paulista サンパウロ人 (Sanpauro-jin)

Using the Kanji for Person [人] to Count

We use the kanji [人] to count people. For example:

1. 一人 – Hitori
2. 二人- Futari
3. 三人- San’nin
4. 四人- Yonin
5. 五人- Gonin
6. 六人- Rokunin
7. 七人- Nananin
8. 八人- hachinin
9. 九人- Kyunin
10. 十人- Juunin

Compound Words with Kanji [人]

If we were to talk about all the words and uses of the kanji [人], it would take days. Below you will find some common words that use the kanji 人.

• Bijin [美人] – Beautiful Woman
• Ningen [人間] – Human, humanity
• Yojin [余人] – Others, Other people
• Uchuujin [宇宙人] – Space Man, Alien
• Ninki [人気] – Famous Person;
• Oijin [名人] – Expert
• Chijin [知人] – Friend, acquaintance

There are more than 2500 words that use the kanji [人], not counting the times that [人] appears as a radical in some word.

Words with Multiple Pronunciations

There are also words that use the ideogram for person, but when pronounced differently, completely change their meaning. See a list of these words below:

• [歌人] – かじん = Poet / うたびと = Skilled Poet, Official in charge of Poetry and music in the ritsuryo period; 家人 – かにん = Family, member / けにん = Retainer
• [死人] – しにん or しびと = Both mean: corpse; dead person
• [中人] – ちゅうじん = Person of medium talent or strength, middle-class person. / ちゅうにん = Child in elementary or middle school.

Identical Words with Kanji for Person

Be careful not to confuse identical words, this is very common in Japanese. Pay close attention to the kanji and stop focusing only on the pronunciation of the words.

Kajin [かじん] – Both words below are pronounced “kajin”, but see the difference in the Kanji, and the meaning of each word.

• 佳人 – Beauty, Beautiful Woman
• 寡人 – Humble Person
• 画人 – Artist Painter
• 雅人 – Taste, personal standard
• 歌人 – Poet
• 家人 – The Family, someone from the family;

Words with Exceptions

There are many words with an uncommon reading of their kanji, which do not use either ON or KUN, but use a unique or derived reading. That is, words that do not use TO, RI, NIN, JIN, HITO. See some examples:

• Ama [海人] – Diver or Fisherman
• Otona [大人] – Adult

After some research, I could only find these 2 irregular words with kanji 人. It is also worth mentioning that there are words that convert their pronunciation to dakuten (た=だ, か=が). This is not an irregular word, it is just to make the pronunciation easier and prettier. For example, the word goddess (女神) that should be mekami is more commonly said as megami. With kanji [人], there are many words like this, see:

• Ochiudo [落人] – Fleeing. (Soldier fleeing from the enemy.) (To pronounced Do)
• Kuriyabito [厨人] – Head Chef (Hito pronounced Bito)
• Kemonobito [獣人] – Fusion of human and animal, beast. (Hito = Bito)
• Akiudo [商人] – Merchant, Trader, shopkeeper. (To = Do)
• Koibito [恋人] – Lovers, Boyfriends (Hito = Bito)

Sometimes there is another way to pronounce these words that is not wrong. In fact, using the original form without pronouncing using dakuten is not wrong. However, if everyone speaks in one way, you may confuse the person during a conversation if you do not speak the way taught.

This was a simple attempt to teach a little about the kanji hito [人]. I hope you enjoyed this article and share it with friends. To finish, let’s leave some exercises:

• Practice writing
• Record all On and Kun readings
• See all the words that use 人 and find the most important ones. (Click here)
• Comment on something that was missing in this article that you think is extremely important to mention;

To finish, I will leave a short video: