員 (yuán)

employee; member; personnel, staff

Etymology

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.

Shuowen Jiezi

《說文》:“員,物數也。从貝,口聲。鼎,籀文从鼎。”

Original meaning

round

Components