聖せい人じん

せ

い

じ

ん

Common wordFreq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

noun

saint

Christianity

Christian use for a person officially or traditionally regarded as holy; especially common in Catholic and Orthodox contexts.

彼かれはカトリック教きょう会かいで聖せい人じんとして崇すう敬けいされている。
He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.

noun

sage; wise and virtuous person; great religious teacher

The older, broader meaning: a person of exceptional wisdom and virtue, especially in Confucian or religious/philosophical contexts.

孔こう子しは古ふるくから聖せい人じんとされてきた。
Confucius has long been regarded as a sage.
彼かれのような聖せい人じん君くん子しには、なかなかなれない。
It is hard to become a perfectly virtuous person like him.

noun

refined sake

Rare dictionary sense referring to 清酒, refined sake. In ordinary modern Japanese, 清酒 or 日本酒 would be used instead.

Usage patterns

〈人ひと〉のような聖せい人じんa saint-like person; someone as virtuous as a saint
彼かれは聖せい人じんのような優やさしさを持もっている。
He has a saint-like kindness.
聖せい人じんとして崇あがめるto revere someone as a saint
その修しゅう道どう女じょは死し後ご、聖せい人じんとして崇あがめられた。
After her death, the nun was revered as a saint.

Kanji

聖holy, saint, sage
人person

Related words· 7

聖せい者じゃ sense 1
聖者 and 聖人 both mean a holy or saintly person, but 聖人 leans toward Christian saints or Confucian sages while 聖者 is a slightly more general term for any holy figure.
賢けん人じん sense 2
賢人 emphasizes wisdom and intelligence, whereas 聖人 stresses moral and spiritual perfection as much as wisdom.
清せい酒しゅ sense 3
清酒 is the everyday word for refined sake, while 聖人 in this sense is a rare, old-fashioned literary term for the same thing.
全ぜん人じん
聖人 is the common word for a saint or sage in a religious or moral sense, while 全人 stresses balanced moral and intellectual completeness, often in educational contexts.

Show 3 more

君くん子し
聖人 denotes a sage or saint of near-perfect wisdom and virtue, a step above the more attainable moral ideal of 君子.
聖ひじり
聖人 is the common modern word for a morally exemplary person (often in Confucian or general contexts), whereas 聖 is more archaic and often tied to Buddhist monastic life.
聖せい
聖人 is the full noun meaning 'a saint' as a person, whereas 聖 is the short prefix attached directly to a saint's name.

Opposites

悪あく人にんN1sense 2
悪人 means a wicked or evil person, the moral opposite of the virtuous 聖人.

Don't confuse with

成せい人じんN3
成人 is a homophone meaning 'adult' or 'coming of age', completely unrelated in meaning to the holy or wise person sense of 聖人.

Counted with

人にん
counter for people

Word family

守しゅ護ご聖せい人じん
patron saint
聖せい人じん君くん子し
saint; person of perfect virtue; noble character
聖せい人じん賢けん者じゃ
person of lofty virtue and great wisdom
保ほ護ごの聖せい人じん
patron saint

Etymology

A Sino-Japanese compound of 聖, associated with holiness or sage-like virtue, and 人, person. The sage-like meaning as the original meaning; the rare refined-sake sense is best treated as a limited dictionary sense with uncertain derivation.