人口
rénkǒu · HSK 2
population
👥 人 (person) + 口 (mouth) = mouths to feed = population
Classic compound: 人 means person and 口 means mouth. Counting mouths is an old way of counting people, so 人口 literally adds up to population or headcount.
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.
口 — pictograph of an open mouth
口 is one of the oldest pictographs in Chinese, originally drawn as a simple outline of an open mouth. Its core meaning 'mouth' extended naturally to 'opening' or 'entrance', as in 入口 (entrance). It also serves as a common radical in characters related to speech, eating, or apertures.