This week’s Word Of The Week is – Gaikokujin (外国人) meaning Foreigner – a word that is historically well in-grained in the Japanese vernacular.

Foreigner is made up of three kanji – 外国人 (がいこくじん).

The first two kanji (外国 – がいこく) form a compound, which is where two (or more) kanji join together to form a new word.

The two kanji used in the word – 外国人 – are 外 (outside) and 国 (country). As a compound we predictably get 外国 (がいこく), which means “foreign” (outside country).

The final kanji is 人 (じん), which means person and reads as じん (ji-n). It is also commonly read as ひと (hi-to) plus it is used as a counter for people. As an example, you might see on a train ticket for five people – ５人.

Examples

Kanji	Hiragana	Meaning
外国	がいこく	Foreign
国	こく	Country
外	がい	Outside
人	じん	Person
国王	こくおう	King (国 – Country, 王 – Rule)
外国語	がいこくご	Foreign Language
人魚	にんぎょ	Mermaid (人 – Person, 魚 – Fish)
外気	がいき	Open Air (外 – Outside, 気 – Air, Atmosphere)

Please note that I have only included the relevant kanji readings for this example in the table above. Almost all kanji have multiple readings but not all are applicable to the examples in this article.

Any questions? Please leave a comment below.

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