新人
しんじん · shinjin · JLPT N1 · noun
face
🐣 新 (new) + 人 (person) = new person; a newcomer to a group or job
新 means new and 人 means person, so 新人 is a person who is new to a group, school, or workplace. Both characters are common, so the compound is easy to decode.
新 — 立 stand + 木 tree + 斤 axe
Originally depicted cutting fresh wood with an axe (斤) from a tree (木), with 辛/立 as the phonetic component. The original meaning of 'firewood' was later written as 薪, while 新 took on the extended sense of 'new' or 'fresh'.
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.