The word 人民 is formed by combining two individual characters, each contributing a layer of meaning to create a new, unified concept. The first character, 人, fundamentally means "person" or "people". The second, 民, historically denotes "the masses", "common people", or "a populace". When placed together, they do not simply list two ideas but merge into a single, collective noun where 人 emphasizes the human, individual aspect and 民 emphasizes the social, collective body, thus forming the integrated concept of "the people" as in a nation's citizenry or populace.