男性
nánxìng · HSK 5
male
👨 男 = field + power (man works the field); 性 = nature/sex
男性 literally combines 男 (man: 田 field + 力 power) with 性 (nature, gender). Together it means male/man as a category. Compare 女性 nǚxìng (female).
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.
性 — heart radical 忄 + 生 (life/birth)
性 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 忄 supplies the meaning, pointing to inner feelings or innate qualities, while 生 ('birth, life') gives the sound and hints at what one is born with. It originally meant 'inborn nature' and later extended to 'character,' 'gender,' and 'sex.'