员

員

yuán

口 + 贝

HSK 3.0Level 3

Definitions

yuán (noun) employee; staff member; personnel

yuán (noun) member (of organization)

Etymology

Simplified form of 員. Depicts the round opening (口) of a cooking pot (鼎). Based on the original meaning "round", now written as 圓. The current meaning is a phonetic loan.

Semantic: 贝

About

A simplified form of 員, 员 originally depicted the round opening of a cooking pot, combining 口 (mouth/opening) above 鼎 (tripod vessel). This represented the meaning "round", now written as 圓. Later, the lower component was simplified to 贝 (shell), and the character was borrowed phonetically to denote a person in a particular role or group, as in 员工 (employee) or 成员 (member), entirely separate from its original geometric sense.

Etymology Hide

Oracle etymology image

Oracle (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle etymology image

Oracle (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle etymology image

Oracle (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle etymology image

Oracle (~1250-1000 BC)

Bronze etymology image

Bronze Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze etymology image

Bronze Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Seal etymology image

Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)

Seal etymology image

Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)

Seal etymology image

Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)

Seal etymology image

Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)

Seal etymology image

Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)

Seal etymology image

Seal Chu (Warring States: 475-221 BC)

Seal etymology image

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal etymology image

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical etymology image

Clerical Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

Clerical etymology image

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical etymology image

Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical etymology image

Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

他是一名员工。

Tā shì yī míng yuángōng.

He is an employee.

我们公司有很多员工。

Wǒmen gōngsī yǒu hěn duō yuángōng.

Our company has many employees.

她是这个俱乐部的会员。

Tā shì zhège jùlèbù de huìyuán.

She is a member of this club.

那位服务员很友好。

Nà wèi fúwùyuán hěn yǒuhǎo.

That waiter is very friendly.

飞行员每天都要训练。

Fēixíngyuán měi tiān dōu yào xùnliàn.

Pilots need to train every day.

研究人员正在研究新项目。

Yánjiū rényuán zhèngzài yánjiū xīn xiàngmù.

Researchers are studying a new project.

作为一名管理员，他负责维护系统。

Zuòwéi yī míng guǎnlǐyuán, tā fùzé wéihù xìtǒng.

As an administrator, he is responsible for maintaining the system.

这位演员在电影中的表演非常出色。

Zhè wèi yǎnyuán zài diànyǐng zhōng de biǎoyǎn fēicháng chūsè.

This actor's performance in the movie is outstanding.

Related Characters

Composed characters:

Component: 口

Component: 贝

Example Words