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常人 (cháng rén) — ordinary person; average person

Definition

常人 means an ordinary person — someone without special ability, status, or wealth. Use it for the everyday contrast in contexts like '常人难以做到' or '对常人而言'.

noun
ordinary personaverage person
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 常人。
    cháng rén Wú fǎ lǐ jiě rú cǐ fù zá de wèn tí.
    Ordinary people cannot understand such complicated problems.
  • ，常人。
    Tā suī rán hěn yǒu cái huá, què guò zhe cháng rén de shēng huó.
    Although he is very talented, he lives the life of an ordinary person.
  • 常人，。
    Duì yú cháng rén lái shuō, jiàn kāng bǐ cái fù gèng zhòng yào.
    For ordinary people, health is more important than wealth.

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.

常chángordinary
人rénperson

The character 常 means ordinary, and 人 means person, so together they denote an ordinary person.

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
巾巾jīncloth
Sound part声符shēngfú
尚
尚shàng常cháng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

常 pairs 巾, a cloth, with 尚 as a sound part; the form originally referred to a lower garment.

Open 常 →

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
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9People (General)

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