Where does “日本人” come from?

日本人 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 日本, from Japanese 日, from Old Japanese 日, from Proto-Japonic *pi — day, sun.

日本人 (Japanese): a Japanese person, Japanese people

Definitions

  1. a Japanese person, Japanese people

Ancestry of “日本人”, step by step

日本人 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 日本

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese日本{{l|en|Japan}}; Japan
2Japanese日Sunday
3Old Japanese日the sun; sunlight, sunshine; daytime, daylight
4Proto-Japonic*piday, sun

via Japanese 人

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese人a person, human; an individual; mankind, people
2Proto-Japonic*pitəone

Words derived from “日本人”

Every word from Proto-Japonic *pi →Every word from Old Japanese 日 →Every word from Japanese 日 →