商人
しょうにん · shounin · JLPT N3 · noun
merchant
🏪💰 商人 = trade (商) + person (人): a trade-person, i.e. a merchant
商 (shou) means commerce, as in 商売 (shoubai, business) and 商品 (shouhin, goods). 人 is read nin here, as in 三人 (sannin). Sound hook: a merchant must SHOW goods to a NINja customer: shou-nin.
商 — 亠 lid + 丷 + 冏 window/enclosure
In oracle bone script 商 depicted a raised platform or altar-like structure, and it served as the name of the Shang dynasty and its capital region. The modern components are a late simplification of that pictograph and carry no separate meaning. The sense 'trade, merchant' arose later, traditionally linked to Shang people who travelled to buy and sell after their dynasty fell.
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.