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私人

Mandarin · pinyin sī rén

private
personal
interpersonal
sb with whom one has a close personal relationship
a member of one's clique

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Characters in this entry

私: sī · private, personal; secret
人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–2 · si1 ren2

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 4 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

si1 jan4

Cantonese word readings for 私人. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

adj

(attributive) private (as opposed to public); personal
concerning one's private life; personal
(slang, humorous, sarcastic, euphemistic) A homophone for 死人 (sǐrén), used to describe overused and irritating sound effects

noun

personal friend or relative; confidant

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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