大人
Chinese
Etymology 1
big; great; huge; large; major; wide; deep; oldest; eldest; doctor |
man; person; people | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| simp. and trad. (大人) |
大 | 人 | |
| alt. forms | 大儂／大侬 Min Nan | ||
| anagram | 人大 | ||
Pronunciation
Noun
大人
Synonyms
- 成人 (chéngrén)
Etymology 2
big; great; huge; large; major; wide; deep; oldest; eldest; doctor |
man; person; people | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| simp. and trad. (大人) |
大 | 人 | |
| anagram | 人大 | ||
Reborrowed from Japanese 大人 (taijin) for the historical Min Nan sense.
Pronunciation
Noun
大人
- (honorific) Your Excellency; His Excellency (form of address to a higher-up)
- (Taiwanese Min Nan, dated or regional) sir (form of address used by ordinary citizens to address police officers during Taiwan's Japanese era)
- (Xiamen, Quanzhou Min Nan, religion) paper person, used as a scapegoat
Synonyms
Antonyms
- 小人 (xiǎorén)
Derived terms
References
- Iûⁿ, Ún-giân (2006), “Query for 大人”, in 台文/華文線頂辭典 [On-line Taiwanese/Mandarin Dictionary (Tai-gi Hôa-gí Sòaⁿ-téng Sû-tián)] (in Chinese and Min Nan).
- “Entry #221”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (in Chinese and Min Nan), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2011.
Japanese
Etymology 1
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 大 | 人 |
| Grade: 1 | Grade: 1 |
| Irregular | |
From late Old Japanese, more specifically Early Middle Japanese.[1] Appears in sources from the Heian period. Derivation unknown. Possibly related to obsolete verb おとなう (otonau, “to visit someone; to make a sound, to speak aloud”).
The spelling is jukujikun (熟字訓).
Alternative forms
- 乙名 (only for the leader senses)
Pronunciation
Noun
大人 (hiragana おとな, rōmaji otona)
- an adult, a grown-up
- 2010 December 8, Sorachi, Hideaki, “第三百二十二訓 二度あることは三度ある [Lesson 322: Twice, Thrice That There Are]”, in 銀魂 [Silver Soul], volume 37 (fiction, in Japanese), Tokyo: Shueisha, →ISBN:
- まずはこのローションをかぶってだな
- Mazu wa kono rōshon o kabutte da na
- First we slap on some lotion
- Chotto matēē‼ Sore doko no otona no pūrū⁉
- Hold o-o-o-on‼ Are you tryna turn this place into an adult pool⁉
- まずはこのローションをかぶってだな
-
- (uncommon, possibly archaic) a leader:
- an elder of a group or community
- in the late Muromachi period, the representative of a village or guild
- the head lady-in-waiting
- one's wife
- in the Edo period, a kind of civil servant working in Nagasaki
- the head servant
Etymology 2
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 大 | 人 |
| Grade: 1 | Grade: 1 |
| Irregular | |
From Old Japanese.[1] Appears in the Nihon Shoki, completed in 720 CE. Derivation unknown.
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Noun
Etymology 3
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 大 | 人 |
| たい Grade: 1 |
じん Grade: 1 |
| on’yomi | |
From Middle Chinese 大人 (dɑiH ȵʑjen, literally “big, great + person”). Compare modern Cantonese reading daai6 jan4, Min Nan tāi-jîn.
The kan'on reading, so likely a later borrowing.
Pronunciation
Noun
大人 (hiragana たいじん, rōmaji taijin)
- a large person
- a giant
- an adult
- a person of high rank, a ruler or noble
- an honorific form of reference for a scholar or teacher, or one's own parent
- a daimyo
Synonyms
Etymology 4
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 大 | 人 |
| だい Grade: 1 |
にん Grade: 1 |
| on’yomi | |
From Middle Chinese 大人 (dɑiH ȵiɪn, literally “big, great + person”). Compare modern Hakka reading thai-ngìn.
The goon reading, so likely an earlier borrowing.
Pronunciation
Noun
大人 (hiragana だいにん, rōmaji dainin)
- an adult, a grown-up
- (Buddhism) the Buddhas and bodhisattvas
References
Korean
| Hanja in this term | |
|---|---|
| 大 | 人 |
Noun
大人 • (daein) (hangeul 대인)
Okinawan
Noun
大人 (hiragana うふっちゅ, romaji ufutchu)
Vietnamese
| Hán tự in this word | |
|---|---|
| 大 | 人 |
Noun
大人
- Hán tự form of đại nhân, “noble man”