男人

nánrén · HSK 1

man

👨 男 = field 田 + strength 力; the one who works the fields

男人 decomposes as 男 (man) + 人 (person). The character 男 combines 田 (field) on top and 力 (strength/plow) below — historically, the one whose strength worked the fields. 人 just reinforces person.

男 — field 田 + strength/plow 力
男 is a compound ideograph combining 田 (field) above 力 (strength, originally a picture of a plow). It depicted the one who works the fields with a plow, i.e. a male laborer, and by extension came to mean 'man' or 'male' in general.

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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