元
もと · moto · JLPT N3 · noun
beginning
🌱 元 = 二 (head marks) on 儿 (legs): a person's head, where things start
The oldest form of 元 was a person with the head marked, and the head is the top or start of the body. That is how it came to mean origin, and also former. Sound hook: moto sounds like motor, the part where motion starts.
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.