全員

ぜんいん · zenin · JLPT N3 · noun

member

全員 — member

👥 全 whole + 員 member = the whole membership; zen-in: everyone's in

全 (zen) means whole or all, as in 全部. 員 (in) means member or staff, as in 会社員, company employee. Put together, it means every member of the group. Verbal hook: zen-in, as in everyone's in.

全 — enter 入 on top + jade 玉
Originally written as 入 (enter) over 玉 (jade), depicting a complete, unflawed piece of jade kept in storage. From this image of a perfect jade came the meanings 'whole,' 'complete,' and 'entire.' The top component is sometimes written as 人.

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