How Bijin Differs in Meaning from Kirei and Utsukushii

by Tomo · Published June 4, 2022 · Updated June 4, 2022

As I explained how Kirei differs from Utsukushii before, today, I will explain how Bijin (美人) differs from those two words.

Bijin vs. Kirei/Utsukushii

Bijin or Kirei or Utsukushii

For beginners, first of all, Bijin and Kirei/Utsukushii are different in parts of speech.

Bijin (美人) is a noun composed of the Kanji character 美 (Bi) for beauty in English and the one 人 (Jin) meaning a person.

So the Japanese word 美人 literally stands for a beautiful person but usually refers to a beautiful woman.

In contrast, Kirei (綺麗) and Utsukushii (美しい) are adjectives for pretty/beautiful in English.

While Utsukushii can be both attributive and predicative, Kirei can only be the latter.

When used as an attributive adjective, Kirei changes its form to Kireina (綺麗な).

The Kanji character for a person in English, 人, can also be read/pronounced as Hito.

Since the core meaning of Kirei is pretty, Kireina Hito (綺麗な人) stands for a pretty woman.

Meanwhile, as Utsukushii is the word for beautiful, Utsukushii Hito (美しい人) refers to a beautiful woman, being synonymous with Bijin (美人).