员工
yuángōng · HSK 3
staff
👔 员工 = member + worker (staff member who works)
员 means member or staff; 工 means work or worker. Together they name an employee — literally a working member of an organization. The 工 component shows up in many work-related words like 工作 (work) and 工人 (worker).
员 — mouth 口 + shell/money 贝 (貝)
Originally a pictograph of a round bronze tripod vessel, with 口 depicting its round opening and 鼎 (later simplified to 貝/贝) showing the vessel itself. The original sense was 'round,' now written 圓/圆. It was borrowed to mean 'member' or 'person in a role,' which became its main modern meaning.