<p>Wikipedia has a page <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Easily_confused_Chinese_characters" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Easily confused Chinese characters</em></a> (there's quite a few of these), and it describes 人 vs. 入 as follows:</p>

<blockquote>
  <ul>
  <li>Notes: added hook at top of second character.</li>
  <li>In some print fonts, characters have symmetric legs, and are easily confused; in handwriting, they are further distinguished by having asymetric legs: 入 has a shorted left leg and looks like λ (lambda), while 人 has a shorter right leg and looks like a backwards λ.</li>
  </ul>
</blockquote>

<p>It's fonts that make these two characters difficult to distinguish.  Here are animations from the <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%BA%BA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">人</a> and <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%85%A5" rel="nofollow noreferrer">入</a> Wiktionary pages for how to handwrite them:</p>

<p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/%E4%BA%BA-order.gif/100px-%E4%BA%BA-order.gif"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/%E5%85%A5-order.gif/100px-%E5%85%A5-order.gif"></p>

<p>Their meanings are totally different, so it's also possible to infer the correct character from the surrounding material.  E.g. 中国人 ("Chinese person") vs. 收入 ("income").</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-21T23:45:02.640Z
2020-04-21T23:45:02.640Z
Becky 李蓓
<p>You can put them side by side on <a href="https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=0&amp;wdqtm=0&amp;wdqcham=1&amp;wdqt=%E5%85%A5%E4%BA%BA%0D%0A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MDBG</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/VeNn8.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/VeNn8.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Where is the difference? Have a look:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/KsNAw.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/KsNAw.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>You can see on the two circled parts that the right side of <code>入</code> actually slants a little to the left, where as <code>人</code> is generally left is left and right is right.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-21T14:59:51.867Z
how do you put them side by side?
user4951
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-21T17:37:56.083Z
@user4951 You can click the link I left above in the answer to MDBG and have a look. All I did was put the two characters “入人” into the search bar for query.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-21T14:36:36.573Z
2020-04-21T14:36:36.573Z
Mou某
<p><a href="http://zhongwen.com/d/164/x74.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://zhongwen.com/d/164/x74.htm</a></p>

<p>This character looks like 人 alot.</p>

<p>That website says that it's the character of roots descending into earth</p>

<p>I search for root in mgdb and can't find it.</p>

<p>I search for 入 and I found this
<a href="https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=0&amp;wdqtm=0&amp;wdqcham=1&amp;wdqt=ru%0D%0A" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&amp;wdrst=0&amp;wdqtm=0&amp;wdqcham=1&amp;wdqt=ru%0D%0A</a></p>

<p>What's the difference between 入and人?
They look almost the same to me. When inside other pics how do I know which one is which?</p>

<difference>
What's the difference between 入(root) and 人 (men)
# What's the difference between 入(root) and 人 (men)

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-04-21)

<http://zhongwen.com/d/164/x74.htm>

This character looks like 人 alot.

That website says that it's the character of roots descending into earth

I search for root in mgdb and can't find it.

I search for 入 and I found this
<https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqtm=0&wdqcham=1&wdqt=ru%0D%0A>

What's the difference between 入and人?
They look almost the same to me. When inside other pics how do I know which one is which?

**Tags:** difference


---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-04-21. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

Wikipedia has a page [*Easily confused Chinese characters*](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Easily_confused_Chinese_characters) (there's quite a few of these), and it describes 人 vs. 入 as follows:

> * Notes: added hook at top of second character.
> * In some print fonts, characters have symmetric legs, and are easily confused; in handwriting, they are further distinguished by having asymetric legs: 入 has a shorted left leg and looks like λ (lambda), while 人 has a shorter right leg and looks like a backwards λ.

It's fonts that make these two characters difficult to distinguish. Here are animations from the [人](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%BA%BA) and [入](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%85%A5) Wiktionary pages for how to handwrite them:

![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/%E4%BA%BA-order.gif/100px-%E4%BA%BA-order.gif)![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/%E5%85%A5-order.gif/100px-%E5%85%A5-order.gif)

Their meanings are totally different, so it's also possible to infer the correct character from the surrounding material. E.g. 中国人 ("Chinese person") vs. 收入 ("income").


---

### Answer by username_2 on 2020-04-21. Score: 3

You can put them side by side on [MDBG](https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqtm=0&wdqcham=1&wdqt=%E5%85%A5%E4%BA%BA%0D%0A):

> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/VeNn8.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/VeNn8.png)

Where is the difference? Have a look:

> [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/KsNAw.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/KsNAw.png)

You can see on the two circled parts that the right side of `入` actually slants a little to the left, where as `人` is generally left is left and right is right.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: how do you put them side by side?  
> **username_2**: @username_0 You can click the link I left above in the answer to MDBG and have a look. All I did was put the two characters “入人” into the search bar for query.  

---

