人質

See also: 人质

Chinese
man; person; people
 
hostage; substance; nature; quality
trad. (人質) 人 質
simp. (人质) 人 质

Pronunciation

Noun

人質

  1. hostage
    營救人質 / 营救人质  ―  yíngjiù rénzhì  ―  to rescue hostages

Japanese
Kanji in this term
人 質
ひと
Grade: 1		 しち > じち
Grade: 5
yutōyomi

Etymology

Compound of 人 (hito, “person”) +‎ 質 (shichi, “pawn, hock”).[1] The shichi changes to jichi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

The original sense was “indentureship”, from the sense of a person being as if in pawn until a debt is paid. The “hostage” sense then arose by extension, from the person being in pawn until a ransom is paid or some other condition is met.

Pronunciation

Noun

人質 (hiragana ひとじち, rōmaji hitojichi)

  1. a hostage
    人 (ひと)質 (じち)事 (じ)件 (けん)
    hitojichi jiken
    a hostage situation
    • 2013 September 9, Sorachi, Hideaki, “第だい四百五十一訓くん　人にん間げん五ご十じゅう年ねん下げ天てんのうちをくらぶれば　夢ゆめ モヒカンの如ごとくなり [Lesson 451: Man’s 50 Years of Life Are Nothing Compared to All Things under the Sky. Nothing But a Dream, a Mohawk.]”, in 銀ぎん魂たま [Silver Soul], volume 51 (fiction), Tokyo: Shueisha, →ISBN:
      落 (お)ちつけ　斬 (き)り込 (こ)みなんてそう簡 (かん)単 (たん)にできるワケねーだろ　アンタらには俺 (おれ)達 (たち)人 (ひと)質 (じち)がついてんだぜ
      Ochitsuke kirikomi nan te sō kantan ni dekiru wake nē daro Anta-ra ni wa ore-tachi hitojichi ga tsuite n da ze
      Chill out, they can’t just barge in here and hurt everyone. You guys still have us as hostages.
  2. (archaic, original sense) indentureship, the state of being in servitude to another as collateral on or payment of a debt

References
  1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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