人为
rénwéi · HSK 7
man-made
🤖 人为 = person (人) + do/make (为) = made by people, man-made
人 rén means person and 为 wéi means to do or make; together literally person-does, so something is artificial or man-made rather than natural. Contrast with 天然 tiānrán, natural.
人 — pictograph of a standing person
人 is a pictograph showing a person viewed from the side, with two strokes representing the legs and torso of a standing human. In oracle bone script it clearly depicted a figure leaning slightly forward. The meaning has remained 'person' or 'human' throughout its history.
为 — simplified form of 為; from 爪 (claw/hand) over 象 (elephant)
The traditional form 為 originally depicted a hand leading an elephant, suggesting the act of doing or making work. Over time it generalized to mean 'to do, to act, for the sake of.' The simplified 为 preserves this 'do/for' meaning, with pronunciation shifting between wéi ('to be, to do') and wèi ('for, because of').