人
person; people
HSK level
- Pinyin
- rén
- Part of speech
- noun
- Level
- HSK 1
- Strokes
- 2
- Register
- neutral
- Measure word
- 个 / 位
- In episodes
- 7
Stroke order for 人
人 is written with 2 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
What does 人 mean?
人 (rén) is the basic noun for 'person' or 'people' and one of the first characters every Chinese child learns to write — it's just two strokes, picturing a standing person with legs apart.
It's both singular and plural: 一个人 means 'one person,' 很多人 means 'many people,' and bare 人 in context can mean 'humans / mankind.' It pairs with country names to form nationality words: 中国人 (Chinese person), 美国人 (American), 法国人 (French person).
It also appears in countless compounds: 男人 (man), 女人 (woman), 家人 (family member), 大人 (adult). In English the line between 'person' and 'people' depends on number; in Chinese 人 covers both, and the measure word (个 for casual, 位 for polite) does the counting work.
Memory hook: Two strokes — legs of a standing figure. Literally a stick-figure person.
Hear 人 in real episodes
人 appears in 7 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed, 4 of them below. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
在佛罗里达，很多人种水果。
In Florida, many people grow fruit.
Could Gene-Edited Trees Save Florida's Citrus Industry From Greening?
一个八十岁的人，头上有一个大帽子。
An eighty-year-old man has a big hat on his head.
Lula Wins Brazil's Presidency at 80 — A Comeback Over Flávio Bolsonaro by 52% to 48%
今天，我想说尼安德特人。
Today, I want to talk about Neanderthals.
What Happened to the Neanderthals? Why Homo Sapiens Is the Only Human Species Left
兵马俑，是很多很多的人。
The Terracotta Army is many, many people.
Fingerprints on the Terracotta Army Suggest Women and Teenagers Helped Make It
Example sentences
我是中国人。
Wǒ shì Zhōngguó rén.
I'm Chinese.
neutral
这儿有很多人。
Zhèr yǒu hěn duō rén.
There are a lot of people here.
spoken
他是一个好人。
Tā shì yí ge hǎo rén.
He's a good person.
neutral
我一个人去。
Wǒ yí ge rén qù.
I'll go alone.
spoken
Common phrases with 人
Synonyms
人们 explicitly means 'people' (plural, generic), used in writing and formal contexts: 人们都喜欢 ('everyone likes'). Spoken Chinese usually just says 人 or 大家.
Don't confuse 人 with
入 means 'to enter' and looks almost identical to 人 — the top stroke goes the other way. 入 starts with the rightward stroke first; 人 starts with the leftward stroke. Tiny shape difference, completely different meaning.
Frequently asked questions
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 人 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
You just saw 人 in 7 episodes. Fluentide keeps feeding you news episodes at your level, so this word — and thousands like it — resurface in real sentences until they stick. Full pinyin and translation every time. Free to start.