also: りゅうじん
noun
exile; banished person
Historical term for a person sentenced to exile, especially in pre-modern Japan. Often used in historical or literary contexts.
彼は罪を犯して流人となり、遠い島に送られた。
He committed a crime and became an exile, sent to a distant island.
noun
Only with reading りゅうじん
Rare reading りゅうじん for a person who wanders without a fixed home. Not commonly used in modern Japanese.
古文書には、りゅうじんとして各地を放浪した者の記録が残っている。
Ancient documents record accounts of those who wandered as vagrants across various regions.
Composed of 流 (flow, exile) and 人 (person). The reading るにん is a historical Japanese reading, while りゅうじん is a Sino-Japanese reading. The exact derivation is uncertain, but the term has been used since the Heian period to refer to exiled individuals.