坏人
huàirén · HSK 2
bad person
😈 坏人 = 坏 (bad/broken) + 人 (person)
坏 means bad or spoiled, 人 means person — together literally bad-person. The same 坏 shows up in 坏蛋 (bad egg = scoundrel) and 学坏 (turn bad).
坏 — earth 土 + 不 (not)
A modern simplified form. The left side 土 (earth) suggests something physical or material, while the right side 不 (not/negative) acts as a semantic hint meaning 'not good.' The traditional form 壞 used 褱 as a phonetic component, but the simplified 坏 reuses an older variant character.
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.