本人 meaning in English
I; me; myself; oneself; yourself; himself; herself; the person concerned
Meaning of 本人
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- I; me; myself
- oneself; yourself; himself; herself; the person concerned
How to use 本人
本人 is used to stress that it is the person themselves, often in formal notices, forms, and official settings. It can mean "I" when speaking formally, or "the person concerned" when talking about someone else. Example: 需要本人签字。(Xūyào běnrén qiānzì.) The person concerned must sign in person.
本 (běn) shows a tree 木 with a mark at its root, so it means origin or the thing itself. 本人 (běnrén) is the root person, the actual person, not someone else.
Common mistake: Learners often use 本人 as an everyday word for "I" in casual chat, which sounds stiff or self-important; in normal speech just say 我 (wǒ). Also do not confuse it with 别人 (biérén), which means the opposite: other people.
本人 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
本 běn · root · 5 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
人 rén · person · 2 strokes
- 1
- 2
Related words
Words that share a character with 本人.
Questions about 本人
What does 本人 mean?
本人 (běnrén) means "I; me; myself; oneself; yourself; himself; herself; the person concerned" and is used as a pronoun.
How do you write 本人?
本人 is made of 2 characters: 本 (5 strokes), 人 (2 strokes). That is 7 strokes in total.
Is 本人 an HSK word?
Yes. 本人 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 本人 and 自己?
自己 (zìjǐ) is a reflexive word meaning "oneself", as in 我自己做 (I do it myself). 本人 stresses identity, meaning this specific person and not a substitute, as in 本人到场 (the person must appear in person).
Can 本人 be placed after a name or pronoun?
Yes. You can say 他本人 (tā běnrén) or 王先生本人 to mean "he himself" or "Mr. Wang himself". This is common when contrasting the real person with photos, rumors, or representatives, for example 他本人比照片好看 (He looks better in person than in photos).