美元
měiyuán · HSK 3
US dollar
💵 美元 = 美(America) + 元(currency unit) = US dollar
美 is short for 美国 (America), and 元 is the base unit of currency in Chinese (also the name of the RMB unit). Together 美元 literally reads as American-currency-unit, the standard term for the US dollar.
美 — sheep 羊 on top + big 大 below
美 is traditionally explained as a pictograph of a person (大) wearing a large sheep or ram's-head ornament, suggesting beauty through adornment. An alternative reading takes 羊 (sheep) over 大 (big) to mean 'a big, fat sheep'—seen as delicious and pleasing, hence 'beautiful, good'.
元 — 二 (two) + 兒 variant 儿 (legs/person)
元 originally depicted a person with the head emphasized on top, meaning 'head' or 'origin'. From this came the extended senses of 'first', 'beginning', and 'primary'. It was later borrowed as the name of the Yuan dynasty and the modern Chinese currency unit.