人口
rénkǒu
The English phrase population is translated into Chinese as 人口 (rénkǒu).
人口 is used to refer to the count of people in a statistical or demographic sense. It should not be used to describe a population of animals, which would instead use 种群.
Meaning: all people living within a political or geographical boundary (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
The word 人口 is composed of 人 (person) and 口 (mouth/opening), literally meaning 'human mouths'.
How does it change in a sentence?
人口 is a noun that functions as a mass noun in most demographic contexts and does not typically take a plural marker.
How do you pronounce it?
rénkǒu
Did you know?
- In ancient China, population counts were tied to the 'household' system, where the head of the house reported the number of 口 to avoid over-taxation.
- The word 口 (mouth) is also used in other Chinese measure words for family members, such as 一家五口 (a family of five mouths/people).
- While 人口 refers to humans, the word for animal population 种群 uses a character 群 meaning 'flock' or 'herd'.
Examples in context
- 这个城市人口众多。The city has a large population.This sentence is useful for describing the size of a city's population using 人口.Tatoeba #1430232 by sadhen, translation #45043 by CK
- 世界人口急剧增长。World population has rapidly increased.This sentence is useful for discussing the rapid increase in world population using 人口.Tatoeba #4547051 by murr, translation #4555786 by weihaiping
- 日本的人口比英国多。The population of Japan is larger than that of Britain.This sentence is useful for comparing the population of two different countries using 人口.Tatoeba #483040 by GlossaMatik, translation #281426 by CK
- 这个城市的人口已经超过一百万。The population of this city has already exceeded one million.
- 人口统计对于研究社会发展非常重要。Population statistics are extremely important for studying social development.
- 35 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Wei and Yuting are discussing a geography project.
- 伟 Wei你知道中国的人口有多少吗？Nǐ zhīdào Zhōngguó de rénkǒu yǒu duōshǎo ma？Do you know what the population of China is?
- 雨婷 Yuting大概十四亿人，对吧？Dàgài shísì yì rén, duì ba？About 1.4 billion people, right?
- 伟 Wei没错，人口确实非常多。Méicuò, rénkǒu quèshí fēicháng duō.That's right, the population is indeed very large.
- 雨婷 Yuting我也觉得这个数字很惊人。Wǒ yě juéde zhège shùzì hěn jīngrén.I also think this number is amazing.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “population” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
