人 as a suffix. General rule for a reading?


When 人 is used as a suffix the reading could be jin or nin (or other
readings?).

> 犯人 - はん **にん**
>
> 別人 - べつ **じん**

Is there a general rule to tell when the reading will be jin vs nin, or should
I just learn it case by case?




Both ジン and ニン are 音読み of the character 人. ジン is the 漢読み and ニン is the 呉読み
(See <http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/113338/meaning/m0u/>).

Unfortunately, there's no easy way to know which reading to use for all cases
since it depends on when the word was imported from China or alternately
invented in Japan.

There's also a set of 訓読み to be aware of : ひと、びと、 and うと in compound words.
And completely irregular readings like [大人]{おとな} -- interestingly there's also
a [大人]{ダイジン} reading which is less frequent.

One thing I can suggest is that nationalities are all ジン : [中国人]{チュウゴクジン},
[フランス人]{フランスジン}, など




Both ジン and ニン are 音読み of the character 人. ジン is the 漢読み and ニン is the 呉読み
(See <http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/113338/meaning/m0u/>).

Unfortunately, there's no easy way to know which reading to use for all cases
since it depends on when the word was imported from China or alternately
invented in Japan.

There's also a set of 訓読み to be aware of : ひと、びと、 and うと in compound words.
And completely irregular readings like [大人]{おとな} -- interestingly there's also
a [大人]{ダイジン} reading which is less frequent.

One thing I can suggest is that nationalities are all ジン : [中国人]{チュウゴクジン},
[フランス人]{フランスジン}, など

