yuán
noun HSK 3 #493

Meanings

  1. 1 member
  2. 2 person in a role

Characters

Contains (mouth) and (shell/money) — originally referred to a person counted among a group.

Examples

Tā shì dǎngyuán.
He is a party member.
Fúwùyuán, mǎidān!
Waiter, the check please!
Wǒmen gōngsī yǒu sānbǎi míng yuángōng.
Our company has three hundred employees.

Tips

usage
is a very productive suffix for roles/occupations: 服务员 (waiter), 演员 (actor), 教员 (instructor), 商员 (salesperson), 程序员 (programmer), 会员 (member), 学员 (trainee).

Components

radical
kǒu
mouth; opening
Top mouth radical — the indexing component. Originally depicted a round-mouthed bronze tripod (the upper was the rim viewed from above). From "round vessel" came the abstract meaning of a counted member of a group, hence 人员, 员工, 委员.
semantic
bèi
shell; money
Bottom shell — historically the body of the round vessel rendered as (cauldron), later regularized to . In modern shape it doubles as the "money/value" radical, faintly suggesting that members of an organization carry economic value. Same shape in , , .

Stroke Order

yuán