民衆 (みんしゅう, minshuu) Japanese meaning: the people

民衆 (みんしゅう, minshuu) Japanese meaning: the people | Kotomora

Kanji

民people, nation, subjects
衆masses, great numbers, multitude

Related words· 8

国こく民みんN3
国民 stresses people as citizens of a specific nation-state, while 民衆 is a broader term for ordinary people regardless of nationality.
大たい衆しゅうN1
大衆 often refers to the general public in commercial or cultural contexts (e.g. 大衆文化), whereas 民衆 leans political or historical.
庶しょ民みんN2
庶民 focuses on ordinary, non-elite individuals in daily life, while 民衆 views people as a collective political or social force.
人じん民みんN1
人民 is a more ideologically charged term (used in socialist/communist rhetoric) for the people, while 民衆 is neutral and descriptive.

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平へい民みん
民衆 emphasizes the masses as a political or social collective, whereas 平民 focuses on individual status as a non-noble.
公こう衆しゅうN2
民衆 highlights ordinary citizens as opposed to rulers or authorities, carrying a political tone, while 公衆 is neutral and used for civic/administrative contexts.
ピープル
民衆 refers to “the masses” with a social or political nuance, while ピープル is simply an English-style katakana rendering of “people” without that connotation.
民たみ
民衆 emphasizes the people as a collective mass, often in social or political movements, while 民 is a more archaic, single-character term.

Opposites

権けん力りょく者しゃ
権力者 refers to those who hold power, standing in direct contrast to 民衆, the ordinary people they rule over.

Don't confuse with

民みん主しゅN1
民主 (as in 民主主義) means 'democracy' or 'democratic', while 民衆 means 'the people/masses' as a noun; the words sound alike but differ in meaning.

Word family· 9

全ぜん民みん衆しゅう
all the peoples; all nations
民みん衆しゅう化か
popularization
民みん衆しゅう的てき
popular; of the common people
民みん衆しゅう駅えき
publicly supported railway station

Etymology

Compound of 民 (people) and 衆 (multitude). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the word has been used in political and social discourse since at least the Meiji period.

民みん衆しゅう

Meanings

Usage patterns