售货员
shoù huò yuán · HSK 4
salesperson
🛒 售 sell + 货 goods + 员 person = goods-selling person
售 (shòu) means to sell, 货 (huò) means goods or merchandise, and 员 (yuán) denotes a person in a role. Stack them: a person whose job is selling goods — a salesperson or shop clerk.
货 — 化 (huà, phonetic) + 貝 (shell, money)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 貝 (cowrie shell) signals money or commerce, while 化 supplies the sound. Cowries served as ancient Chinese currency, so 货 originally meant valuables exchanged for shells, later broadening to 'goods' or 'merchandise'.
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.