See also: 人质

Chinese edit

man; person; people
 
hostage; substance; nature
hostage; substance; nature; quality
trad. (人質)
simp. (人质)

Pronunciation edit


Noun edit

人質

  1. hostage
    營救人質营救人质  ―  yíngjiù rénzhì  ―  to rescue hostages

Synonyms edit

Japanese edit

 
Japanese Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia ja
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Kanji in this term
ひと
Grade: 1
しち > じち
Grade: 5
yutōyomi

Etymology edit

Compound of (hito, person) +‎ (shichi, pawn, hock).[1] The shichi changes to jichi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

The original sense was “indentureship”, from the sense of a person being as if in pawn until a debt is paid. The “hostage” sense then arose by extension, from the person being in pawn until a ransom is paid or some other condition is met.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

(ひと)(じち) (hitojichi

  1. a hostage
    (ひと)(じち)()(けん)
    hitojichi jiken
    a hostage situation
  2. (archaic, original sense) indentureship, the state of being in servitude to another as collateral on or payment of a debt

References edit

  1. ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006) 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN