i人/e人i rén / e rén

Introverts and extroverts

wǒ shì i rén.我是i人。I’m an introvert.

i人 means an introvert and e人 an extrovert. The letters are the I and E of the MBTI personality test, and 人 means “person”.

Took off: 2023
Started in: The MBTI test
Today: Now everyday Chinese

What it means

An i人 is someone who spends energy in company and needs time alone. An e人 is someone who gets energy from other people. You can write the letters in lower or upper case: i人 or I人.

People use the words to explain small choices: why they sent a message instead of calling, or left a party early. 你是i人还是e人? is a common question when people first meet.

How people use it

It is still common, more as light self-description than as psychology. Sixth Tone reported in 2024 that some employers ask applicants for their type, and that two academics warned against treating it as fixed.

亮亮

今晚的聚会你来吗？
jīn wǎn de jù huì nǐ lái ma?
Coming to the party tonight?
有多少人？
yǒu duō shao rén?
How many people?
二十多个，大部分你不认识
èr shí duō gè, dà bù fen nǐ bú rèn shi
Twenty-something, and you don’t know most of them.
算了，我是i人，在家看剧吧
suàn le, wǒ shì i rén, zài jiā kàn jù ba
Never mind. I’m an introvert. I’ll stay home and watch a show.

More examples

我是i人，周末只想在家。
wǒ shì i rén, zhōu mò zhǐ xiǎng zài jiā.
I’m an introvert. On weekends I just want to stay home.
你是i人还是e人？
nǐ shì i rén hái shì e rén?
Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
他是e人，跟谁都能聊。
tā shì e rén, gēn shéi dōu néng liáo.
He’s an extrovert. He can talk to anyone.

Where it came from

MBTI is a personality test with 16 types, based on the ideas of the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. In the last few years it became a craze among young people in China, as an icebreaker and in dating.

Asking for someone’s type became an icebreaker, and the first letter, I or E, became a word of its own. 语言文字周报 put i人/e人 first on its list of the ten top internet phrases of 2023.

The original. There is no single image. The words come from the four-letter test results, such as INFP or ESTJ, that people post on their profiles. Sixth Tone wrote about the MBTI craze in July 2024. Sixth Tone