person of little importance; insignificant person
Refers to someone with low social status, influence, or ability; often used in contrast to 君子 (superior person).
He is treated as a nobody at the company.
narrow-minded person; petty person
Describes someone with a small, ungenerous character; often used in moral or Confucian contexts.
A petty person cannot honestly rejoice in others' success.
child; little one
Archaic or literary term for a child; in modern Japanese, 子供 is far more common.
In old tales, there are many stories where a child is the main character.
dwarf; small person
Refers to a person of unusually short stature; can be neutral or literary, but may be considered insensitive in modern contexts.
In that story, a dwarf living in the forest appears.
小人 is the Confucian opposite of 君子, describing a petty or morally small-minded person.
From Chinese 小人 (xiǎorén), originally meaning 'small person' and used in Confucian texts to denote a person of low moral standing or common status, contrasted with 君子 (jūnzǐ). The Japanese reading しょうじん is the on'yomi.