文人
wénrén · HSK 7
scholar
📖 文人 = 文 (writing/culture) + 人 (person) = a person of letters
文 means writing or culture, 人 means person, so 文人 is literally a culture-person: a scholar or literary figure. The same 文/武 split (civil vs. martial) gives the civilian-vs-military sense.
文 — pictograph of crossed lines on a chest
文 originally depicted a person with patterns or tattoos drawn on the chest, shown as crossed or interwoven lines. From this image of decorative markings, it came to mean 'pattern,' then 'writing,' 'script,' and 'literature' or 'culture.' The modern senses all trace back to the idea of meaningful marks.
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.