WWWJDIC lists いちにん and ににん as alternative readings of 一人 {ひとり} and 二人 {ふたり}, but I can't recall anywhere I heard those readings except when counting more than 10 people for example 三十一人 {さんじゅういちにん}. Is that the only situation where 一人 and 二人 are read as いちにん and ににん, or are there any other situations?
2 Answers
Other than your example 三十一人
, I can think of 一人前
, 二人前
, 二人三脚
, 二人羽織
. But by itself, I don't think they are read as 'いちにん' or 'ににん'.
The only thing I can think of is 一人称【いちにんしょう】
and 二人称【ににんしょう】
meaning "first person" and "second person" respectively. This means "person" as in "point-of-view" or parts of speech ("third person" is 三人称【さんにんしょう】
).
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1I think that, in those cases, it is not
一人
+称
but is一
+人称
.– user458Aug 25, 2011 at 3:07 -
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@syocit There is no such word as
人前
.– user458Aug 26, 2011 at 1:15 -
1@sawa Actually 人前 is there in WWWJDIC. Moreover it has two readings with different meanings: にんまえ = food portion, ひとまえ = the public, company ..– LukmanAug 26, 2011 at 2:02
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1@Lukman I see. But I don't think WWWJDIC is right. And you're right, it can be read as 'ひとまえ', which is a different word.– user458Aug 26, 2011 at 3:55