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As far as I understand, the word 大人 (otona) uses the kanji 大 to represent お
and the kanji 人 to represent と. According to [this
site](http://tangorin.com/kanji/%E4%BA%BA) the readings for 人 do not include
な. Where does the な come from then?
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2015-05-25T04:51:39.500
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kanji etymology
Where does the な in 大人 (otona) come from?
It's [熟字訓]{じゅくじくん}. Excerpt from
[Wiktionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jukujikun):

> A Japanese word whose kanji spelling conveys the meaning based on the
> individual characters, but the reading is not directly related to the
> spellling. For example, 大 (“big”, usually read _ō_ in _kun'yomi_ compounds)
> and 人 (“person”, usually read _hito_ in _kun'yomi_ compounds) combine to
> form 大人, meaning “adult” but read as _otona_ instead of the otherwise-
> expected _ōbito_.

We have tons of 熟字訓, e.g. [昨日]{きのう}, [土産]{みやげ}, [二十歳]{はたち} etc. For more, see
[熟字訓 on Wikipedia](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%86%9F%E5%AD%97%E8%A8%93).
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# Regarding the etymology of おとな

大人 contains the meaning of **the leader of a group, the most significant one,
the eldest one,** etc.

The etymology is not clear however one of the reason might related to the word
乙名＝おとな

During 室町 period, the wise leaders who lead some local farmer's autonomous
group were commonly called 乙名＝おとな。 It is unclear which word came first but the
reading [大人]{おとな} is _**quite possibly**_ came from 乙名。

Reference: See section [大辞林
第三版](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B9%99%E5%90%8D-40740#E5.A4.A7.E8.BE.9E.E6.9E.97.20.E7.AC.AC.E4.B8.89.E7.89.88
"Kotobank Online Dictionary").

So here you go! The な comes from [名]{な} in 乙名。

_Or is it? GO FIND OUT YOURSELF〜 ヽ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)メ Study etymology〜_ You can probably
get a PhD studying this.

Portal -> [日本歴史言語学会](http://www.jp-histling.com/Pages/default.aspx)

* * *

# Regarding 熟字訓

It is false to think 大人＝ [大]{お}・人{と}＋な。

[@user5185 is right](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/24513/where-
does-the-%E3%81%AA-in-%E5%A4%A7%E4%BA%BA-otona-come-from/24515#24515) about 大人
being 熟字訓 and got not much relation with the pronunciation おとな。 _（It might
once be related, but not anymore cause no one is sure.）_

For more information on 熟字訓 and 当て字 see my another answer for [this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/50383/exceptions-to-
kanji-readings "Q: Exceptions to kanji readings").
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