人道
réndào · HSK 7
human sympathy
🤝 人 person + 道 way = the human way: treating others with sympathy
人 (rén) is person, 道 (dào) is way or path. Together the human way names humane, sympathetic treatment of others. Same 道 as in 知道 know-the-way.
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.
道 — 辶 (walk) + 首 (head)
Originally a compound of 辶 'walk/movement' and 首 'head', depicting a path one walks while looking ahead. The literal sense 'road, way' extended metaphorically to 'method, doctrine, the Way (Dao)'. This philosophical meaning became central in Daoist and Confucian thought.