一人
Meaning in Englishone person, alone
Animated kanji stroke order
Related sentences
Word context
What it means
一人 (hitori) means a single person; it denotes one individual and is commonly used to indicate being by oneself or the state of solitude in everyday Japanese speech.
Main meanings
- As a numeric expression, it serves to count a single person in speech or writing, with context-sensitive pronunciation and usage.
- Functions adverbially when paired with particles to express doing something alone or without help.
- Appears inside compound nouns and idioms where it marks solitary status or individuality, with related words showing subtle differences in tone and emphasis.
- Can convey neutral factual information or carry emotional nuance (e.g., loneliness or independence) depending on context and intonation.
How to use it
Used across spoken and written registers: in everyday conversation to say someone is alone or to count people, in formal/counted contexts alternative readings may appear, and it commonly combines with particles (for instance followed by で (de)) or other words to form phrases describing actions done solo or a person's solitary status.
Variants and close terms
- 独り (hitori) — alternative kanji spelling with similar 'alone' nuance
- 一人ぼっち (hitoribocchi) — emphasizes being completely or sadly alone
- 二人 (futari) — antonym meaning 'two people, a pair'
- 大勢 (oozei) — antonym meaning 'many people, a crowd'
Composition
- 一 (ichi) — 'one, single' as a numeral.
- 人 (hito / jin) — 'person, human'.
Origin
The written form derives from Chinese characters introduced to Japan during the early classical period; the compound has appeared in Japanese records and literature for centuries as a basic way to denote a single person, and its spoken readings stabilized into modern Japanese over time.
Word class
noun; numeral/counter (名詞, 助数詞/数詞)