Can the word 美人 ever refer to a man?


The Kanji themselves don't suggests gender, besides that 美 is a slightly
feminine concept, but I don't believe I've ever heard 美人 referring to a man.
The words 美男 and 美女 exist, which suggests to me that 美人 should refer to both.




Here is a quoted text from [this article on
Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bish%C5%8Dnen):

> The prefix bi (美) more often than not refers to feminine beauty, and bijin,
> literally "beautiful person", is usually, though not always, used to refer
> to beautiful women**.
>
> **Source: Buckley (2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture.
> Taylor & Francis. pp. 188, 522, 553. ISBN 0-415-14344-6.

[Google Dictionary
(Japanese)](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/184770/meaning/m0u/) includes
beautiful men in its definition.

> び‐じん【美人】 の意味
>
> １ 容姿の美しい女性。美女。
>
> ２ 容姿の美しい男子。

If you do a google search of 美人, it comes up with women almost exclusively.
Which would support the above statement about its mostly referring to women.
So, there is evidently a feminine connotation.

[This blog](http://webbinghaus.tumblr.com/post/107853138634/saying-someone-
looks-good-in-japanese) also addresses the question:

> There are a few ways to praise someone’s attractiveness in Japanese [...]
>
>   * 美しい・うつくしい・utsukushii means 'beautiful’ but when used as an adjective it
> isn’t often used for people. Therefore if you want to say a girl is
> beautiful it would be more natural to use the noun 美人・びじん・bijin, as in
> あの子、美人だ！・あの こ、びじん だ！・ano ko, bijin da! 'that girl over there is beautiful!’.
> Used a lot more in Japanese than in English, so it is probably more
> naturally said in English as 'she is so hot’ or something similar, but 美人 is
> neutral and not overtly sexual. This is pretty much the best anyone can ever
> look.
>
>   * イケメン・ikemen is the male variant of 美人 but it’s more of a slang term.
> Guys can be 美人、but in spoken language it is more natural to call them
> イケメン。This is basically the equivalent of a 'hot guy' [...]
>
>

To sum up the answer on that site: You can refer to both males and females as
美人 but it's less common with men and you would tend to use a different
expression like イケメン.




Here is a quoted text from [this article on
Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bish%C5%8Dnen):

> The prefix bi (美) more often than not refers to feminine beauty, and bijin,
> literally "beautiful person", is usually, though not always, used to refer
> to beautiful women**.
>
> **Source: Buckley (2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture.
> Taylor & Francis. pp. 188, 522, 553. ISBN 0-415-14344-6.

[Google Dictionary
(Japanese)](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/184770/meaning/m0u/) includes
beautiful men in its definition.

> び‐じん【美人】 の意味
>
> １ 容姿の美しい女性。美女。
>
> ２ 容姿の美しい男子。

If you do a google search of 美人, it comes up with women almost exclusively.
Which would support the above statement about its mostly referring to women.
So, there is evidently a feminine connotation.

[This blog](http://webbinghaus.tumblr.com/post/107853138634/saying-someone-
looks-good-in-japanese) also addresses the question:

> There are a few ways to praise someone’s attractiveness in Japanese [...]
>
>   * 美しい・うつくしい・utsukushii means 'beautiful’ but when used as an adjective it
> isn’t often used for people. Therefore if you want to say a girl is
> beautiful it would be more natural to use the noun 美人・びじん・bijin, as in
> あの子、美人だ！・あの こ、びじん だ！・ano ko, bijin da! 'that girl over there is beautiful!’.
> Used a lot more in Japanese than in English, so it is probably more
> naturally said in English as 'she is so hot’ or something similar, but 美人 is
> neutral and not overtly sexual. This is pretty much the best anyone can ever
> look.
>
>   * イケメン・ikemen is the male variant of 美人 but it’s more of a slang term.
> Guys can be 美人、but in spoken language it is more natural to call them
> イケメン。This is basically the equivalent of a 'hot guy' [...]
>
>

To sum up the answer on that site: You can refer to both males and females as
美人 but it's less common with men and you would tend to use a different
expression like イケメン.

