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外人 (wài rén) — a person not part of a particular group (family, organization, circle); a foreigner (person from another country)

Definition

外人 means 'outsider' — someone not in your family, company, or inner circle. The 'foreigner' sense is a literal extension; in context it usually means a person who doesn't belong.

noun
a person not part of a particular group (family, organization, circle)a foreigner (person from another country)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ，外人。
    Zhè shì wǒ men gōng sī de nèi bù xiāo xi, bù néng ràng wài rén zhī dào.
    This is our company's internal information; outsiders cannot know about it.
  • ，外人。
    Zài nà zhǒng xiǎo cūn zi lǐ, wài rén hěn róng yì bèi zhù yì dào.
    In that kind of small village, strangers are easily noticed.
  • 外人，。
    Zhè wèi wài rén lái zì měi guó, shì wǒ men qǐng lái de zhuān jiā.
    This foreigner comes from the United States; he is an expert we invited.

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.

外wàioutside
人rénperson

“外” marks outside a group and “人” is person, together meaning someone not belonging to it.

Characters in this word

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
卜卜bǔ
Sound part声符shēngfú
月
月yuè外wài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

外 pairs 卜 with 月, a crescent moon; in its older form, the 卜 part had a horizontal bar extending outward, giving the sense of outside.

Open 外 →

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 →
Appears in
People (General)

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