人 - Hito, Nin, Jin - Differences in Japanese
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Did you know that the word hito 人, the sword nin 人 and the word jin 人 all have the same kanji in Japanese but different, related meanings? If you didn't know that, now you do. But do you know what their meanings and differences are?
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(don't mistake the kanji 人 with the kanji 入火大犬水木本夫矢天来美奏欒爨, none of which have anything to do with it)
Meaning of Hito 人
To begin with, the word hito 人 means "person," and it's often used with all sorts of things related to a person or people, things like:
- hito 人
Person, - hitobito 人々
People. Persons. - hitosama 人様
Other people.
(act respectfully toward "other people", etc.) - kobito 小人
Little people. Little person.
Midget.Edward Elric. - koibito 恋人
Lover. (koi 恋 means "love") - hitojichi 人質
Hostage. (shichi 質 means "collateral") - hitori 一人
One person.
Alone. - hitogoroshi 人殺し
Murder. - hitochigai 人違い
Mistaking a person for another. - hitomae 人前
Public. In public.
In front of people.
And of course, it's often paired with the pronouns kono, sono, ano, dono to say stuff like:
- kono hito この人
This person. - sono hito その人
That person you're talking about. - ano hito あの人
That person over there. - dono hito? どの人？
What kind of person?
So, as you can see, the hito 人 word using the kun'yomi of the kanji is pretty much all about people. But what about the other readings, then?
Meaning of Nin 人
The word nin 人 is used in plenty of human-related words, like:
- ningen 人間
Human. - ningyou 人形
Puppet.
(literally human-shape) - ninki 人気
Popular.
(like a manga or clothes, check moteru for being popular with girls) - ninjou 人情
Empathy.
Human feelings. - ningyo 人魚
Mermaid.
(literally human-fish) - ninsuu 人数
Number of people.
When it's at the start of the word, it's pretty much impossible to tell it apart form jin, but when it's at the end, it's usually related to what the person does.
- shiyounin 使用人
Employee.
(shiyou is to use, shiyounin is a person who's used) - shihainin 支配人
Manager.
(shihai is to manage, shihainin is a person who manages) - hoshounin 保証人
The guarantor. He who guarantees.
(hoshou is guarantee) - uketorinin 受取人
The recipient. He who receives.
(uketoru is to receive) - zashidashinin 差出人
The sender. He who sends.
(zashidasu is to send)
Meaning of Jin 人
The word jin 人 is used in plenty of human-related words, just like nin 人, and they can't be told apart when they're at the start. In these cases, just memorize the words and that's about it. See:
- jinsei 人生
Human life. - jinkou 人口
Population. - jinkou 人工
Artificial.
Human-made. - jinshu 人種
Race.
Human race. - jinkaku 人格
Personality. - jintai 人体
Human body. - jinrui 人類
Man-kind.
Human kind. - jinbutsu 人物
Person. - jinken 人権
Human rights.
When at the end of the word, however, jin 人 often relates to an attribute of a person, and not to what the person does or the .
- bijin 美人
Pretty woman.
Pretty person. - shinjin 新人
Newbie. - roujin 老人
Old person. - satsujin 殺人
Murderer. (killing is his attribute!) - ajin 亜人
Demi-human. - tishikijin 知識人
Intellectual. - shakaijin 社会人
A member of the society.
(antonym of NEET) - yuumeijin 有名人
Famous person.
There are exceptions, of course. But that's about it.
Using Jin for Nationalities
Another thing is that jin 人 and only jin 人 is used after nationalities of people:
- nihonjin 日本人
Japanese person. - amerikajin アメリカ人
American person. - eikokujin 英国人
British person. - mekishikojin メキシコ人
Mexican person - kanadajin カナダ人
Canadian person. - oosutorariajin オーストラリア人
Australian person. - doitsujin ドイツ人
German person.
And, of course:
- tikyuujin 地球人
Earthling person. - kaseijin 火星人
Martian person. - uchuujin 宇宙人
Space person.
Alien.
That's about it, folks.