外がい人じん

が

い

じ

ん

Common wordJLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 10,000

Meanings

1

noun

foreigner; non-Japanese person; gaijin

sensitive

Commonly used for non-Japanese people, especially those of European ancestry. Can carry a nuance of otherness and is sometimes considered insensitive; 外国人 is a more neutral alternative.

Kanji

外outside
人person

Related words

外がい国こく人じんN5sense 1
外国人 is the neutral, formal word for 'foreigner', while 外人 is more casual and can sound insensitive or dated.
異い人じん sense 2
異人 is an old-fashioned word for 'stranger/foreigner' close to the archaic 'outsider' sense of 外人, but it is rarely used in modern speech.

Opposites

日本にほん人じん sense 1
日本人 means 'Japanese person', the direct opposite of 外人 'non-Japanese person'.

Word family· 9

内ない外がい人じん
nationals and foreigners; Japanese and non-Japanese people
外がい人じん妻づま
foreign wife
県けん外がい人じん
person from outside the prefecture; non-local
不ふ良りょう外がい人じん

Written forms

外がい人じんUsage97%
Standard kanji spelling; high-frequency in news and common usage.
ガイジンUsage3%
search-only kana form
Katakana spelling is searchable but not a standard written form; sometimes used for emphasis or in informal contexts.

Etymology

Compound of 外 (outside) and 人 (person). Originally meant 'outsider' in a general sense; the modern meaning 'foreigner' developed later.

delinquent foreigner; foreign hoodlum

外がい人じん墓ぼ地ち

foreign cemetery (in Japan); cemetery for Westerners

Show 4 more

外がい人じん記き者しゃ
foreign correspondent
外がい人じん部ぶ隊たい
foreign legion
外がい人じんハンター
gaijin hunter; person attracted to foreigners
外がい人じんコンプレックス
foreigner complex; inferiority complex toward foreigners