一人
ひとり · hitori · JLPT N5 · noun
person
🧍 一人 = one + person; hito (one, as in hitotsu) + ri (people counter)
Native Japanese counting survives here: hito- is the old word for one (as in hitotsu), and -ri is the old counter for people. The same pattern gives futari (二人, two people). From three onward the reading switches to san-nin, yo-nin.
一 — single horizontal stroke
一 is one of the simplest pictographs in Chinese, depicting a single horizontal line to represent the number one. It has retained essentially the same form since oracle bone script over 3,000 years ago. By extension it also means 'first,' 'whole,' or 'same.'
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.