愛人

Japanese

Kanji in this term
愛	人

Etymology

Borrowed from Mandarin in the late 1800s as a translation of English terms sweetheart or lover. Compare modern Mandarin 愛人 (àiren).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• IPA: [a̠id͡ʑĩɴ]

Noun

愛人 (hiragana あいじん, romaji aijin)

1. a lover, a mistress

   Implies an extramarital relationship. Most often used by a man in reference to a woman.

2. (archaic) a sweetheart, a loved one

Related terms

• 恋人 (こいびと, koibito): a boyfriend, a girlfriend

References

• Yoshida, Masatoshi et.al. Kodansha's Romanized Japanese-English Dictionary. Tokyo: Kodansha International (JPN), 1993. ISBN 4770016034.

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Mandarin

simpl.		爱人
trad.		愛人

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: [ai˥˩ʐɛn]

Noun

愛人 (traditional, Pinyin àiren, simplified 爱人)

1. (Beginning Mandarin) husband
2. (Beginning Mandarin) wife
3. (Taiwan) sweetheart

Usage notes

Traditionally, and outside the PRC, a lover. Introduced in the PRC with the meaning of spouse as a replacement for terms considered politically incorrect; a husband or wife.

References

• 1985, Jingrong (ed.) Wu, The Pinyin CHINESE-ENGLISH DICTIONARY (in Mandarin/English), Beijing, Hong Kong: The Commercial Press, ISBN 0471867969:
• 2000, Jingmin (ed.) Shao, HSK Dictionary (HSK汉语水平考试词典) (in Mandarin/English), Shanghai: Huadong Teachers College Publishers, ISBN 7561720785:
• "愛人" (in Mandarin/English), Dr. eye. URL accessed on 2009-05-29.

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Min Nan

simpl.		爱人
trad.		愛人

Pronunciation

• (Quanzhou, Taipei) IPA: [ai˥˧lin˧˥]
• (Xiamen, Zhangzhou:, Tainan) IPA: [ai˥˧ʑin˧˥]

Noun

愛人 (traditional, POJ ài-jîn, ài-lîn, simplified 爱人)

1. sweetheart

References

• "愛人" (in Taiwanese/English), On-line Taiwanese/Mandarin Dictionary (台文／華文線頂辭典). URL accessed on 2011-01-29.