(rén) - person, people in Mandarin
rénTraditional: 人
Translation
person, people
Word origin
人 (rén) is a pictograph of a standing human figure seen in profile, with the two strokes representing the legs. It means 'person' or 'people' and appears as a radical, often written 亻, in many characters concerning human beings.
- Origin
- pictograph
- Root
- 人 (rén), pictograph of a standing person
Stroke order
人
Examples
。
There are a lot of people here.
。
He is a good person.
亿。
China has 1.4 billion people.
。
This person is very friendly.
。
He is not a bad person.
人 (rén) is one of the most iconic Chinese characters - a simple two-stroke pictograph of a person in profile with legs striding forward. It appears as a radical in hundreds of characters related to people and human activities, including 他 (tā, he), 你 (nǐ, you), and 们 (men, plural suffix).
Beyond its literal meaning of "person" or "people," 人 features in countless compound words and expressions: 中国人 (Chinese person), 工人 (worker), 大人 (adult), 人民 (the people). Its radical form appears on the left side of many characters as 亻 (the "standing person" radical), demonstrating how foundational this concept is to the writing system.
Where this fits
Appears in 30 words
Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 人.
Used in
Stories
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Grammar articles
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Mandarin Advanced Grammar (C1-C2 / HSK 6+): Chengyu, Classical Remnants, and Register
Approximation and Rounding in Mandarin: 左右, 大概, 差不多, 几 and 来 for About, Around and Roughly
The Mandarin 被 (bèi) Passive: Saying Something Was Done To the Subject
Mandarin Causatives 使 (shǐ), 令 (lìng) and 让 (ràng): Making Someone Feel or Do Something
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Mandarin Verb Conjugation: Why It Doesn't Exist and What Replaces It
Mandarin Conjunctions: 虽然…但是, 因为…所以, 如果…就 and the Paired Structures That Join Clauses
The Mandarin Copula 是 (shì): To Be, and When to Leave It Out
Mandarin Demonstratives: 这 (zhè) and 那 (nà), One Form Each, No Agreement
The Mandarin Durative 着 (zhe): Marking a State That Continues (门开着, 拿着书, 笑着说)
How to Say Even Though and Even If in Mandarin: 虽然, 即使, 就算 and 尽管
Mandarin Existential and Presentative Sentences: 有, 出现, 发生 and Why New Things Go After the Verb
Formal Mandarin Connectives: 然而, 因此, 于是 and 尽管 (The Written Register)
Mandarin Question Words: 什么 (shénme), 谁 (shéi), 哪 (nǎ) and Friends Stay Where the Answer Goes
就 (jiù) vs 才 (cái) in Mandarin: Sooner Than Expected, Later Than Expected
The Mandarin 连...都/也 Construction: How to Say 'Even', and Why the Word Has to Move
Mandarin Location and Existence: 在 for Where, 有 for There Is, and the 上/下/里/外 Position Words
Mandarin Negation: 不 (bù) vs 没 (méi), and Why 不有 Does Not Exist
Mandarin Numbers, Time, Dates, and Currency: From 1 to 1,000,000, the 二/两 Split, and Time-Before-Verb
The Spoken Passives 让 (ràng), 叫 (jiào) and 给 (gěi): What People Say Instead of 被
Mandarin Possession with 的 (de): My, Your, His, and When Mandarin Drops the Particle
Mandarin Possession with 有 (yǒu): To Have
Mandarin Question Formation: 吗, V-Not-V, 还是, and the In-Situ Wh-Word System
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Mandarin Resultative Complements: Fusing a Result onto the Verb (看见, 吃完, 找到)
Mandarin Sentence-Final Particles: 吧, 呢, 啊, 嘛, 吗 and the Final 了
The Mandarin 所 (suǒ) Family: 所有, 所谓, 所 + Verb, and the 为...所 Passive
The Three de in Mandarin: 的, 得, and 地 and How to Tell Them Apart
Topic-Comment Structure in Mandarin: Fronting 这本书我看过 and Why Word Order Bends
Mandarin Sentence Structure: Word Order, Topic-Comment and the 把 Construction
The Mandarin 于 (yú) Family: 对于, 关于, 由于, 至于, 属于, 位于, 终于
The Mandarin 者 (zhě) Suffix: 作者, 读者, 前者, and Naming the One Who Does It
Mandarin 之 (zhī): 之一, 之间, 之后, 之中, 总之 and the Written Ancestor of 的
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人: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "人" (person, people): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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