One Kanji Per Day – Day 11 – 人 (Hito / Jin・Nin)

Day 11 – 人 (ひと / ジン・ニン)

Meaning: person / human 👤

🔹 Basic Info

• Kanji: 人
• Reading (kun): ひと (hito)
• Reading (on): ジン (jin), ニン (nin)
• JLPT level: N5
• Strokes: 2

✍️ How to Remember & Write

This one is super easy:

Imagine a person walking:

• Two strokes = two legs 🚶

That’s it! The shape itself is a human.

🧠 Meaning & Cultural Note

人 means person or human.
It’s one of the most important kanji in Japanese, because it appears in hundreds of other kanji and words.

It represents:

• People
• Society
• Humanity

Basically… you can’t learn Japanese without 人.

🗣️ Common Words

• 人（ひと）– person
• 日本人（にほんじん）– Japanese person
• 外国人（がいこくじん）– foreigner
• 一人（ひとり）– one person
• 大人（おとな）– adult

🌱 Mini Practice

Try reading this:

• 日本人です。
  (Nihonjin desu.)
  → I am Japanese.

Or:

• 人がいます。
  (Hito ga imasu.)
  → There is a person.

💡 One-Kanji Tip

人 is a very common radical (component).
You’ll see it inside many kanji:

• 休 (rest) → person + tree
• 体 (body) → person + base
• 仕 (work) → person + do

So learning 人 unlocks a huge part of kanji logic 🔓

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🎉 Day 11 complete!