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I can't understand the meaning of 背が高い人. From what I've heard you can't just say 高い on a non living object, so what is the meaning of 背 exactly?

chocolate
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Smiled_One
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2 Answers2

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高い has very wide meanings including high, tall, expensive, hot, and so on. but usually you have to add 背 referring tall. 背 means tallness of human beings. 背が高い人 translates in verbatim "a person who is high in tallness".

syntaxsystem
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背が高い人 means "tall person".

高い人 (without 背) has a different meaning.
高い人 means "arrogant person", someone who looks down on other people.
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/je/8517/meaning/m0u/%E5%BE%A1%E9%AB%98%E3%81%84/

hisao m
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    「高い人」 doesn't mean "arrogant person". We use 高い for "arrogant". We say 高くとまった人 to mean "arrogant person". – chocolate Nov 19 '16 at 15:20