元老
yuán lǎo · HSK 7
senior figure
👴 元老 = 元 origin/first + 老 old; the original old-timer, a founding elder
元 means first or primary (as in 元年, the first year); 老 means old. Put them together and you get the most senior old-timer of a group, the founding elder or doyen.
元 — 二 (two) + 兒 variant 儿 (legs/person)
元 originally depicted a person with the head emphasized on top, meaning 'head' or 'origin'. From this came the extended senses of 'first', 'beginning', and 'primary'. It was later borrowed as the name of the Yuan dynasty and the modern Chinese currency unit.
老 — old man 耂 + 匕 (bent figure)
Originally a pictograph of an elderly person with long hair leaning on a cane. The top 耂 depicts the hair and stooped body, while 匕 at the bottom represents the cane or a bent figure. The core meaning 'old' has remained stable since oracle bone script.