与众不同
yǔ zhòng bù tóng · HSK 7
to stand out from the masses (idiom)
🦄 与 with + 众 (three 人 = a crowd) + 不同 not-same = with-the-crowd-not-the-same
众 stacks three 人 (person) glyphs into one character meaning a crowd. So 与众不同 literally reads as with + crowd + not + same: being unlike everyone else around you.
与 — hand 𠂇 + give/tusks 牙-like element
与 is the simplified form of 與. The traditional 與 depicts four hands cooperating to lift and pass an object, conveying the idea of giving or participating together. Over time the meaning extended to 'and' and 'with', linking parties who share or take part in something.
不 — single pictograph; bird flying upward
Originally a pictograph in oracle bone script, traditionally interpreted as a bird flying up toward the sky and unable to come down, suggesting negation or refusal. Over time it became the standard negation word in Chinese, used before verbs and adjectives to mean 'not'.
同 — 冂 enclosure + 一 + 口 mouth
Originally depicted multiple mouths gathered under one cover or enclosure, suggesting people speaking together in agreement. From this image of voices joining, it came to mean 'same,' 'together,' or 'alike.' The shared cover symbolizes unity.