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人才 (rén cái) — talent; a person of talent; (colloquial) good looks, attractive appearance

Definition

人才 names a talented PERSON (especially a skilled professional), whereas 才能 is the abstract ability or capacity itself. As a colloquialism it also means 'good-looking' (a person), not physical features like 外貌.

noun
talenta person of talent(colloquial) good looksattractive appearance
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 人才。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī yǒu hěn duō yōu xiù de rén cái.
    This company has a lot of excellent talent.
  • ，。
    Tā cháng dé zhēn rén cái, bù shǎo rén dōu xǐ huan tā.
    He is really good-looking; quite a few people like him.
  • 人才。
    Tā shì yí wèi fēi cháng nán dé de rén cái.
    She is a very rare talent.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

人rénperson
才cáitalent

人 gives human and 才 gives talent, so the word names human talent and by extension a talented person.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

才 originally drew a sharp peg, not a sprout growing from the ground.

Open 才 →
Appears in
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