用户
yònghù · HSK 5
user
👤 用 (use) + 户 (household/account) = user, the one who uses an account
用 means 'to use' and 户 originally meant 'door' or 'household', extended to mean 'account'. Together: someone who uses an account — a user, subscriber, or customer.
用 — pictograph of a bucket or wooden pail
用 originally depicted a bucket or container, possibly a sacrificial vessel made of wood. Over time it was borrowed to mean 'to use' or 'employ,' losing its concrete object sense. The modern meaning 'use' has been standard since early classical Chinese.
户 — single-leaf door (half of 門)
户 is a pictograph showing a single-leaf door, originally drawn as half of 門 (a double door). It came to mean 'door,' then by extension 'household' or 'family,' since a door marks one dwelling. Today it commonly means 'household' or 'account.'