男子
だんし · danshi · JLPT N3 · noun
young buck
👦 男子 = man (男) + child (子): a male who is still a kid at heart
男 combines 田 (rice field) and 力 (strength): the one who works the field. 子 means child or small one. Together they mean a young male. Danshi also sounds like dancey: the boys' team is the danshi team.
男 — field 田 + strength/plow 力
男 is a compound ideograph combining 田 (field) above 力 (strength, originally a picture of a plow). It depicted the one who works the fields with a plow, i.e. a male laborer, and by extension came to mean 'man' or 'male' in general.
子 — pictograph of a baby/child with arms out
子 began as a pictograph of a swaddled infant with a large head and outstretched arms, originally meaning 'baby' or 'child.' From there it broadened to 'son,' 'offspring,' and a respectful suffix for masters like 孔子 (Confucius). It also became one of the twelve earthly branches.