Usage patterns 〈 人ひと 〉 と 面めん 識しき がある to have met and know someone personally
I've met him before at a previous meeting.
〈 人ひと 〉 と 面めん 識しき がない to have never met someone personally
I have never met that company president in person.
〈 人ひと 〉 と 面めん 識しき を 持も つ to establish a personal acquaintance with someone
It's important to have met the contact person at a business partner in person.
Kanji 識 discriminating, know, write Related words 知り合い is a casual, general word for someone you know, while 面識 stresses the formal fact of having personally met that person.
知人 is a formal word for an acquaintance in general, whereas 面識 specifically emphasizes having actually met the person face-to-face.
顔見知り is a casual term for recognizing someone by face without necessarily interacting, while 面識 is more formal and stresses documented personal contact.
面識 is a formal term meaning simply having met or recognizing someone by face, whereas 近づき (お近づき ) emphasizes the polite process of forming a new acquaintance.
面識 means you have actually met and are acquainted with a person, whereas 見覚え only means the person's face looks familiar, with no implication of a real relationship.
Etymology Compound of 面 (face) and 識 (knowledge, acquaintance), literally 'face-knowledge'. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the meaning has been stable in modern Japanese.
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