会員
かいいん · kaiin · JLPT N3 · noun
member
🪪 会員 = association (会) + person on staff (員): one who belongs
会 means meet or gather, as in 会社 (company) and 会議 (meeting). 員 marks a person in a group, as in 社員 (employee) and 店員 (shop clerk). Put together, a 会員 is a person who belongs to an association.
会 — 人 person on top + 云 cloud/say below (simplified from 會)
The traditional form 會 showed a lid over a vessel with contents stacked inside, depicting things coming together — hence 'meet, gather, assemble.' From 'gathering' it extended to 'meeting,' then 'understand' (minds meeting) and 'be able to.' The simplified 会 keeps only a schematic top and bottom.