新颖
xīnyǐng · HSK 7
new and original
🌱 新颖 = 新 new + 颖 grain-tip (the bright sharp point) -> freshly cutting-edge, novel
颖 originally meant the sharp tip of an ear of grain, then came to mean a brilliant point or talent. Pair it with 新 new and 新颖 lands on new-and-sharp: original, fresh, novel.
新 — 立 stand + 木 tree + 斤 axe
Originally depicted cutting fresh wood with an axe (斤) from a tree (木), with 辛/立 as the phonetic component. The original meaning of 'firewood' was later written as 薪, while 新 took on the extended sense of 'new' or 'fresh'.