人, hito, nin, jin, ~bito, ~ri, ~to

In Japanese, hito, nin, jin, ~bito, ~ri, ~to 人 are different readings of a same kanji, and the meaning of that kanji is "person," so hito, nin, jin, etc. all mean "person" in one way or another. In this article, I'll explain the differences between them and how they're used.

The kanji for person, people or human in Japanese, 人, and its readings hito, nin and jin

Source: japanesewithanime.com (CC BY-SA 4.0)

(don't mistake 人 with 入火六大犬水氷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, hito 人 means "person," or "people," because of how plurals work in Japanese. Furthermore, because Japanese doesn't have definite and indefinite articles, hito can be translated as:

hito 人
Person.
A person.
The person.
People.
The people.

hito vs. nin, jin

The biggest difference between hito 人 and jin 人 and nin 人 is that hito 人 is a word, while jin 人 and nin 人 are not words, they're morphemes. This means you can use hito alone to say "person," because it's a word. While jin and nin are always part of other words and can't be used alone.

hito ga shinda
人が死んだ
A person died.
People died.
hito ga kuru kamoshirenai
人が来るかもしれない
A person may come.

Another difference is that hito 人 is a kun'yomi reading while jin 人 and nin 人 are on'yomi readings. But that hardly matters.

hito After Adjective

The way hito 人 is most often used is after an adjective. By having an adjective, we qualify and narrow down what person, or people, we're talking about. For example:

ii hito
いい人
A good person.
Good people.
- ii いい is an i-adjective.
kirei na hito
綺麗な人
A pretty person.
Pretty people.
- kirei 綺麗 is a na-adjective.
futsuu no hito
普通の人
A normal person.
Normal people.
- futsuu 普通 is a no-adjective.
{kimi ga ai suru} hito
君が愛する人
The person [whom] {you love}.
The people [whom] {you love}.
- kimi ga ai suru 君が愛する is a relative clause.

Note that ko 子 is a word that's often used like hito 人 the way above, except that it has a certain nuance. (see ko 子 for details.)

"Someone"

Sometimes, hito is better translated as "someone" rather than "person." After all, a "person" is "someone."

hito ga shinda
人が死んだ
Someone died.
hito ga kuru kamoshirenai
人が来るかもしれない
Someone may come.

Another word that means "someone" in Japanese is dare ka 誰か. Although they can often be used interchangeably, there are two differences between hito 人 and dare ka 誰か that should be noted:

dare ka is always used an "uncertain" someone—someone you don't know who—while hito can refer to a certain someone whose identity you know.
hito can mean "people," plural, while dare ka is just "one" someone, singular.

For example:

hito wo tasukeru
人を助ける
To help people.
To help a person.
To help someone.
dare ka wo tasukeru
誰かを助ける
To help someone.
asoko ni iru hito
あそこにいる人
The person [that's] over there.
The people [that are] over there.
- We might know who is this person, or people.
asoko ni iru dare ka
あそこにいる誰か
Someone (we don't know who) [that's] over there.

"He," "She"

Sometimes, hito 人 can be translated as "he" or "she." This happens when translating hito as "person" sounds weird, and it's more natural to translate the word as "he" or "she" instead.

For example, in romance manga, there's often a panel where a guy approaches a bishoujo 美少女, takes a look at her, is awestruck by her beauty, and thinks something like:

uwa~ kirei na hito!
うわ～　綺麗な人！
Wow... a pretty "person!" (what?)
- It makes more sense to translate this as:
- Wow... [she's so pretty!]

Another case is when hito 人 comes after demonstrative pronouns kono, sono, ano この, その, あの to form the phrases kono hito, sono hito, ano hito この人,その人, あの人.

There's a difference of proximity between kosoado words such as kono, sono, and ano that doesn't translate well to English. On top of that, there's usually a visual hint (such as pointing) that makes explicitly saying "this person" and "that person" unnecessary. And normally describing the "person" as "guy" or "girl" or "woman" or "man" makes more sense in English than just saying "person." So:

kono hito この人
This person.
This [guy/girl right here].
[He]. [She].
sono hito その人
That person.
That [guy/girl next to you].
[He]. [She].
ano hito あの人
That person.
That [guy/girl that's not next to you].
[He]. [She].

hito as Part of Other Words

As I've said before, nin and jin are always part of words, while hito can be used alone. But that doesn't mean hito is always used alone, it can be part of another word, too.

For reference, some words that include hito:

hitosama 人様
Other people.
- In the sense of acting respectfully toward "other people," etc.
hitojichi 人質
Hostage.
- shichi 質
  Collateral. Guarantee.
hitogoroshi 人殺し
Murder. (or murderer.)
- korosu 殺す
  To kill.
hitochigai 人違い
Different person.
Mistaking one person for another.
- chigau 違う
  Different.
hitomae 人前
Public. In public.
In front of people.
- mae 前
  Before. (in time.)
  Front. (in space.)

bito 人

Sometimes, hito 人 is read as bito 人 instead when it's a suffix in a word. This happens because of a change in pronunciation called rendaku 連濁. This is the same thing that made hito-koroshi into hito-goroshi up there.

hitobito 人々
People. Persons.
- A reduplication of hito 人.
kobito 小人
Little people. Little person.
Midget.
~~Edward Elric.~~
koibito 恋人
Lover.
- koi 恋 means "love."
murabito 村人
Villager.
- mura 村
  Village.
- murabito ei 村人A
  murabito bii 村人B
  Villager A, B, etc.
  Terms for random, nameless background characters. In school anime, when there's a theater play that the students have to do, some characters end up with these insignificant roles.

Meaning of nin 人

The word nin 人 isn't a word, it's a morpheme. As such, it can't be used alone. Instead, it's part of plenty of human-related words, like:

ningen 人間
Human.
ningyou 人形
Puppet.
(literally human-shape)
ninki 人気
Popular.
- Like manga, anime, movies, clothes, etc.
- Also means "people's presence," for example:
- ninki no nai basho
  人気のない場所
  A place without people's presence.
  A place where there's nobody around.
  (somewhere you can be alone at, or where nobody can see you doing whatever you're doing there.)
- Note that this isn't the same as:
- moteru モテる
  To be popular with girls. (or guys.)
ninjou 人情
Empathy.
Human feelings.
ningyo 人魚
Mermaid.
(literally human-fish)
ninzuu 人数
Number of people.

When nin 人 is at the start of a word, it's pretty much impossible to tell when to read it as nin 人 instead of jin 人: you'll have to know the word, you can't guess.

However, when nin 人 when it's at the end of the word, it's usually related to what the "person" does. So if you know the stuff before nin 人 means, you may be able to guess it's read as nin 人 instead of jin 人. For example:

shiyounin 使用人
Employee.
- shiyou suru 使用する
  To use. (so a shiyounin is a person who's used, usable.)
shihainin 支配人
Manager. Executive.
- shihai suru 支配する
  To manage. To rule over somewhere.
kanrinin 管理人
Manager. Administrator. Moderator.
- kanri suru 管理する
  To manage. To control.
  (a moderator in an online forum is called a kanrinin, he kanri suru's the forum, which is under his kanri.)
hoshounin 保証人
The guarantor. He who guarantees.
- hoshou suru 保証する
  To guarantee.
uketorinin 受取人
The recipient. He who receives.
- ukeru 受ける
  To receive.
- toru 取る
  To take.
- uketoru 受け取る
  To receive (something you take.)
sashidashinin 差出人
The sender. He who sends.
- sashidasu 差し出す
  To submit. To send.

The morpheme nin 人 is also used to count people. (see further below.)

Meaning of jin 人

The word jin 人 isn't a word either. It's a morpheme. As such it can't be used alone, it's always part of another word.

The morpheme jin 人 used in plenty of human-related words, just like nin 人, and you can't tell them apart when they're at the start of the word. In these cases, you'll just have to memorize the words and that's about it. For example:

jinsei 人生
Human life.
jinkou 人口
Population.
jinkou 人工
Artificial.
Human-made. (homonym with the above.)
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. (specially one that's done something or is talented.)
Figure. (emphasis on a person's traits, personality, etc.)
- toujou jinbutsu 登場人物
  Character. (of a novel, anime, manga, etc.)
  Person-matter entering stage. (literally.)
jinken 人権
Human rights.

When jin 人 is at the end of a word, it often relates to an attribute of a person, and not what the person does, which is the case of nin 人. So, again, if you know what the stuff before jin 人 means, you may be able to guess whether it's read as jin 人 or nin 人.

bijin 美人
Pretty woman. (almost always.)
Pretty person. (literally.)
- utsukushii 美しい
  Beautiful.
shinjin 新人
Newbie.
- atarashii 新しい
  New.
roujin 老人
Old person.
- oi 老い
  Old age. (noun.)
ajin 亜人
Demi-human. Sub-human.
- In anime, ajin is often a term used toward a kind of monster girl.
- ashu 亜種
  Subspecies.
chishikijin 知識人
Intellectual.
- chishiki 知識
  Knowledge.
shakaijin 社会人
A member of the society.
- Antonym of NEET.
- shakai 社会
  Society.
yuumeijin 有名人
Famous person.
- yuumei 有名
  Famous.

There are exceptions, of course. But in general that's it.

Using jin for Nationalities

The morpheme jin 人 is also found a suffix used for nationalities of people. It's similar to the suffixes "-ese" and "-ian" in English. For example:

nihonjin 日本人
Japanese person.
- nihon 日本
  Japan.
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.

Note that if you remove "person" from the examples above, it's synonymous, in English, with the language, or other stuff from those nations, but it always means a "person" from that nation, not the other stuff. To elaborate:

nihonjin 日本人
Japanese. (person. Person of Japan.)
nihongo 日本語
Japanese. (language. Language of Japan.)
nihonsei 日本製
Japanese. (-made. Made in Japan.)

The suffix jin 人 can also be added to stuff that's not nations, like:

chikyuujin 地球人
Earthling person.
- chikyuu 地球
  Earth globe. ("Earth ball," literally.)
  The Earth.
kaseijin 火星人
Martian person.
- kasei 火星
  Mars.
uchuujin 宇宙人
Space person.
Alien.
- uchuu 宇宙
  Space.

Manga: "Assassination Classroom," Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 暗殺教室 (Chapter 1)

Context: anime.
...e
･･･え
...eh
nansuka?
何スか？
What?
- nandesuka 何ですか abbreviated.
soitsu
semete kita
uchuujin ka
nankasuka?
そいつ攻めて来た宇宙人か何かスか？
[This guy] is an alien who came attack [us] or something?
shitsurei na!
失礼な！
Impolite, [aren't you]?!
umare mo
sodachi mo
chikyuu desu yo
生まれも育ちも地球ですよ
[My place of] birth and rising is Earth.
- i.e. Koro-sensei is saying he's an Earthling, chikyuujin 地球人, not a space-ling, uchuujin 宇宙人.

ri 人

Besides the above, the kanji can also be read as ri 人. Fortunately, this only happens when counting people.

hitori 一人

The word hitori 一人 means "one person" in Japanese. Note, however, that sometimes it can mean "alone," because when you're just "one person" there's nobody with you.

watashi wa hitori da 私は一人だ
I'm "one person."
I'm alone.

futari 二人

The word futari 二人 means "two people" in Japanese. Note, however, that sometimes it can mean a "couple," or "us two" depending on context.

futari kiri de ikou yo 二人きりで行こうよ
Let's go just [us] two!
- i.e. it's date.
- kiri きり
  Just. Exactly. (used after counters.)

Counting People

When you're counting people in Japanese, the kanji is read as either nin 人 or ri 人 depending on the number. This can be a bit confusing at first, but it's not that complicated.

Basically, to say "one person" in Japanese, you say hitori 一人. When it's "two people," you say futari 二人. Then when it's "three people," it changes: san'nin 三人.

For reference, how to count people up to 10 in Japanese:

hitori 一人 (１人)
One person.
futari 二人 (２人)
Two people.
san'nin 三人 (３人)
Three people.
yonin 四人 (４人)
Four people.
gonin 五人 (５人)
Five people.
rokunin 六人 (６人)
Six people.
shichinin 七人 (７人)
Seven people.
- Also read nananin 七人 sometimes.
hachinin 八人 (８人)
Eight people.
kyuunin 九人 (９人)
Nine people.
juunin 十人 (１０人)
Ten people.

When there's an order of people, like a queue, the suffix me 目 is used:

hitori-me 一人目
First person.
futari-me 二人目
Second person.
san'nin-me ３人目
Third person.

In case you're wondering, mitari 三人, yotari 四人, would be the words for "three people," "four people" using the ri 人 suffix instead of the nin 人 suffix. ^{[人（り）の意味 - dictionary.goo.ne.jp, 2019-02-19]}

But these words—mitari, yotari—are not used. Only hitori, futari are used. The rest is san'nin, yonin, etc. as I've explained already.

何人

As with all counters, -nin ～人 can come after nan 何 to say "how many." Awkwardly, -jin ～人 can also come after nani 何 to ask "what" nationality someone is. These two things are spelled the same way, but read differently.

nan'nin? 何人？
How many people?
nani jin? 何人？
What nationality?