人数 (rén shù) — number of people | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

人数 means 'number of people' (attendees, class size, headcount). It counts people in a specific group, unlike 人口 (total population of a region) or 数目 (a general count of anything).

noun

number of people

Examples

人数？
Zhè cì huì yì de rén shù shì duō shǎo?
What is the number of people at this meeting?
人数，。
Wǒ men bān rén shù bù duō, zhǐ yǒu shí wǔ gè.
Our class doesn't have many people — only fifteen.
人数。
Cān tīng de rén shù yǐ jīng mǎn le.
The restaurant is already full of people.

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.

人数 combines 人 people and 数 number to mean how many people there are.

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.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 數; 数 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

攴攴pū

Sound part声符shēngfú

婁

婁lóu數shù(r)

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 數 pairs 攴, the meaning part, with 婁, the sound part; the simplified 数 is a shorthand.

Appears in

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