敌人

dírén · HSK 4

enemy

⚔️ 敌人 = enemy + person; 人 (rén) is the 'person' radical

敌 means 'enemy/hostile' and 人 means 'person', so 敌人 literally reads as 'enemy person' = foe. The 人 component appears in many people-words like 客人 (guest) and 主人 (host).

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.

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