普通人
pǔ tōng rén · HSK 7
ordinary person
🧑 普通 = ordinary/common + 人 = person, so an ordinary person
普 means general or widespread and 通 means common or to pass through; together 普通 = ordinary. Add 人 (person) to get 普通人, the average person in the street.
通 — 辵 (辶) walk + 甬 yǒng (phonetic)
通 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 辶 (chuò) component means 'walk' or 'movement', giving the meaning of going through or passing. 甬 (yǒng), originally depicting a hanging bell or a path, supplies the sound. Together they convey 'to pass through, communicate, connect'.
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.