So, I have a general question about the word 人間 (ningen), and it's not about
grammar. The most common translation for this word is "human", but I have been
noticing that its usage is somewhat different in some cases, and this becomes
very evident in works of fiction and fantasy. For example, it seems to be okay
to consider some humanoid alien a "ningen", but the same would be inapplicable
for a humanoid deity or a common animal (cat, dog, etc...).

Could anyone explain the idea behind the word 人間 for the Japanese people? What
is or isn't considered to be a 人間? Thank you in advance!
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2016-08-15T19:28:52.570
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translation meaning nuances
The "cultural" meaning of 人間 (ningen)?
I learned in high school. 人間(jinkan) is 人の間, means 人間社会、世間. This word changed
to expression of human itself from Edo period. [人間](http://gogen-
allguide.com/ni/ningen.html)
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2016-09-17T17:54:14.513
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To me, the word 人間 brings the feeling of "humanity", i.e., makes me think of
human rights, citizenship and things like moral and ethics.

> it seems to be okay to consider some humanoid alien a "ningen", but the same
> would be inapplicable for a humanoid deity or a common animal (cat, dog,
> etc...).

A humanoid alien community might very well have concepts of morality/ethics as
well, so you could sympathize with them similarly as you would with other
humans; you could consider these aliens worthy of kindness, respect, and
everything else, thus considering them also humans in this point of view. This
clearly constrasts with a deity or an animal, since they are usually not put
at the "same level of ethics" as humans.

Example: imagine that an alien ship crashed on earth, and there are a few
thousand alien survivors. Some researchers want to deeply study their anatomy,
by giving them drugs/diseases and see how they react. Then you could say:

> They should not conduct these evil experiments in the aliens. They're not
> lab rats, they're _ningen_!

To me, this phrase would be completely fine, even though the aliens are not
technically humans. I could be completely wrong though, this is just my two
cents on this topic. I'm not even a native speaker.
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2016-09-17T19:12:00.510
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He's obviously asking about the usage in Dragon Ball Super. Not sure why he
didn't come out and say it.

That series uses ningen to refer to sentient mortals rather than the human
species.
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2016-10-11T03:48:27.823
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If you were born in a kanji used/using countries like
**China/Korea/Japan/Vietnam** , it's not such a big deal to understand a kanji
itself.

Originally, 人 = **Human** , 間 = **World** , so then 人間 = **Human World** (
**our current world** ) which is separated itself from **heaven** and
**hell**.

But the word has changed into something like **人類** which means **mankind**
--人( **man** ) 類( **kind** ) since Edo period.

人間 doesn't carry a **scientific biological definition of human** , so you may
observed that it is also used to address other human-like entities or human-
like behaviors...

Take it easy, my friend. Ancient Japanese didn't even have a trong definition
for human themselves. Why Japanese learners like us need to care ?
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2016-10-11T12:53:36.520
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from what I gathered so far (including the other answers), ningen could be
translated into "sentient dweller of the Human world/reality plane) morally
compatible with us". it seems to refer to the ascended conscience state, as
opposed to an animal which is driven by its instincts. Two other words to
contrast with:

The word Hito would then refer to the biological species of Human kind, aka
Homo Sapiens, while the word Jin would refer to the people, the congregation
of aforementioned Ningens and Hito.

Popular culture example: Saiyajins, the Saiyan People. Note that not all of
them act quite like Ningens.

Disclaimer: Not a fluent Japanese speaker.
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2019-06-07T17:29:37.287
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