人
HUMAN BEING
Mnemonic
When you see this character, recall the rudimentary stick figures we all drew as children. For some reason, this stick figure is missing its arms, but it still means a HUMAN BEING in kanji.
We avoid the keyword “person” because multiple other kanji also carry that meaning. HUMAN BEING
keeps this kanji distinct.
The grapheme for "man" that we learned earlier, 亻, came from this kanji.
Example Vocabulary
- 人間（にんげん） – human being
- 日本人（にほんじん） – Japanese person
- 三人（さんにん） – three people
- 人形（にんぎょう） – doll, puppet
- 人口（じんこう） – population
No need to memorize all these words or worry about the other kanji yet! Just glance at the English meanings and notice how they’re all connected to HUMAN BEING. The other characters will make sense as you go.
Example Sentences
- 私は日本人の友達がいます。– I have a Japanese friend.
- クラスに三人の先生がいます。– There are three teachers in the class.