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When 人 is used as a suffix the reading could be jin or nin (or other
readings?).

> 犯人 - はん **にん**
>
> 別人 - べつ **じん**

Is there a general rule to tell when the reading will be jin vs nin, or should
I just learn it case by case?
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2016-08-05T07:07:47.477
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2018-11-11T01:14:43.983
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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readings
人 as a suffix. General rule for a reading?
No rule, just case by case.

There are also words like this:

  * 素人{しろうと} 
  * 玄人{くろうと} 
  * 狩人{かりゅうど} 
  * 助{すけ}っ人{と}
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2016-08-05T07:20:19.403
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2016-08-05T07:20:19.403
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Both ジン and ニン are 音読み of the character 人. ジン is the 漢読み and ニン is the 呉読み
(See <http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/113338/meaning/m0u/>).

Unfortunately, there's no easy way to know which reading to use for all cases
since it depends on when the word was imported from China or alternately
invented in Japan.

There's also a set of 訓読み to be aware of : ひと、びと、 and うと in compound words.
And completely irregular readings like [大人]{おとな} -- interestingly there's also
a [大人]{ダイジン} reading which is less frequent.

One thing I can suggest is that nationalities are all ジン : [中国人]{チュウゴクジン},
[フランス人]{フランスジン}, など
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2016-08-05T07:20:36.653
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