人 (rén) is one of the most iconic Chinese characters - a simple two-stroke pictograph of a person in profile with legs striding forward. It appears as a radical in hundreds of characters related to people and human activities, including 他 (tā, he), 你 (nǐ, you), and 们 (men, plural suffix).

Beyond its literal meaning of "person" or "people," 人 features in countless compound words and expressions: 中国人 (Chinese person), 工人 (worker), 大人 (adult), 人民 (the people). Its radical form appears on the left side of many characters as 亻 (the "standing person" radical), demonstrating how foundational this concept is to the writing system.