HSK 5 · Family

人物 rénwù “figure” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 人物 means

  1. figure
  2. personality
  3. character (in a story or film)
  4. person
  5. personage
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • figure (esp. sb of importance)
  • character (in a play, novel etc)
  • (genre of traditional Chinese painting) figure painting

How to say 人物

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale人rén2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale物wù4th tone, falling

人物 in a sentence

  1. 我一直都比较喜欢神秘一点的人物。

    Wǒ yìzhí dōu bǐjiào xǐhuan shénmì yìdiǎn de rénwù.

    I’ve always preferred slightly mysterious characters.

    Sentence #31 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 这部漫画登场的人物全是少女。

    Zhè bù mànhuà dēngchǎng de rénwù quán shì shàonǚ.

    All the characters in this comic are girls.

    Sentence #1575960 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我们视他为重要人物。

    Wǒmen shì tā wéi zhòngyào rénwù.

    We regard him as an important figure.

    Sentence #369129 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 人物 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 人 (rén) drawn as one shape
人rénperson; people

人 is a single shape of 2 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidA person walking, seen from the side: two legs.

The character 物 (wù) with each of its parts in a different colour
物wùthing
  • 牛cow · niúMeaning part
  • 勿must not · wùSound part

牛 hints at the meaning (cow); 勿 (wù) hints at the sound. Compare it with wù.

Memory aidAn ox 牛, which the oldest Chinese dictionary calls the largest of things, with 勿 (wù) for the sound: a thing.

How to write 人物

人 2 strokes · 物 8 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

人物 (rénwù) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 人物 (rénwù). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 人物

Words with 人

Words with 物

More words: People, Body & Health

FAQs

人物 (rénwù) means “figure” or “personality”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it rénwù: rén with a 2nd tone, then wù with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 人物 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type renwu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 人物 from the suggestions. Typing renwu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
人物 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.