素人

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Chinese

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plain; element man; person; people
simp. and trad.
(素人)

Pronunciation

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Noun

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素人

  1. commoner; layman; amateur

Derived terms

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Japanese

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Kanji in this term
しろ
Grade: 5
うと
Grade: 1
kun'yomi
Kanji in this term
しろ
Grade: 5

Grade: 1
kun'yomi
Kanji in this term
しろ > しら
Grade: 5
ひと > びと
Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Etymology

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Compound of (しろ) (shiro, plain, undecorated) + (うと) (uto, person).

The term (hito, person) appears in various older compounds with a root form of (*puto → *buto → *udo, *puto → *futo → *uto). This form is never seen in isolation, and it often undergoes further phonetic changes to combine with preceding vowels. Compare the formation of 仲人 (nakōdo), from naka + udo; 旅人 (tabiudo), from tabi + udo.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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(しろ)(うと) or (しろ)() or (しら)(びと) (shirōto or shiroto or shirabito

  1. amateur, novice
    Synonym: 初心者 (shoshinsha)
    Antonym: 玄人 (kurōto)
  2. respectable woman (one who is not a prostitute, geisha, or hostess)
  3. (archaic, dialectal, Kyoto) unlicensed prostitute

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. 2.0 2.1 NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN