人々

Japanese

Kanji in this term
人	人
ひと Grade: 1	ひと > びと Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
人人

Etymology

Reduplication of 人 (hito, “person”) to explicitly emphasize plurality.^[1]^[2]^[3] The second character is replaced with the 々 symbol, the Japanese ditto mark to show duplication of the preceding character. The hito changes to bito as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) ひとびと [hìtóꜜbìtò] (Nakadaka – [2])^[2]
IPA^(key): [çito̞bʲito̞]

Noun

人(ひと)々(びと) • (hitobito)

people, each person, everybody
- 2004 June 4, “レオニンの従(じゅう)者(しゃ) [Leonin Squire]”, in フィフス・ドーン [Fifth Dawn], Wizards of the Coast:
  
  私(わたし)は王(おう)かもしれないが、兵(へい)士(し)や人(ひと)々(びと)なくしては、私(わたし)は何(なに)者(もの)でもないのだ。
  Watashi wa ō ka mo shirenai ga, heishi ya hitobito naku shite wa, watashi wa nanimono de mo nai no da.
  I may be king, but without my soldiers and my people, I am nobody.

References

^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (1995), 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[KDJ-1] Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[DJS-3] Matsumura, Akira, editor (1995), 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN

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