员 (yuán): member, staff
员 (yuán) is a Chinese character meaning “member, staff.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (structural) and 贝 (semantic). It ranks #200 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 员 money. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).
Definitions
- member, staff
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 员 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 员
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 演员noun | yǎn yuán | actor | 4 |
| 人员noun | rén yuán | staff | 4 |
| 成员noun | chéng yuán | member | 5 |
| 队员noun | duì yuán | team member | 4 |
| 员工noun | yuán gōng | staff | 5 |
| 运动员noun | yùn dòng yuán | athlete | 3 |
| 飞行员noun | fēi xíng yuán | pilot | 5 |
| 官员noun | guān yuán | official (in an organization or government) | 6 |
| 会员noun | huì yuán | member | 4 |
| 职员noun | zhí yuán | office worker | 6 |
| 学员noun | xué yuán | student | 6 |
| 公务员noun | gōng wù yuán | civil servant | 5 |
| 伤员noun | shāng yuán | wounded person | 6 |
| 乘务员noun | chéng wù yuán | attendant on an airplane, train, boat etc | 5 |
| 售票员noun | shòu piào yuán | ticket seller | 4 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 议员 | yì yuán | member (of a legislative body) |
| 参议员 | cān yì yuán | senator |
| 球员 | qiú yuán | (ball sports) player |
| 警员 | jǐng yuán | police officer |
| 服务员 | fú wù yuán | waiter |
| 雇员 | gù yuán | employee |
| 船员 | chuán yuán | sailor |
| 管理员 | guǎn lǐ yuán | manager |
| 店员 | diàn yuán | shop assistant |
| 委员 | wěi yuán | committee member |
| 裁员 | cái yuán | to cut staff |
| 辅导员 | fǔ dǎo yuán | coach (teacher or trainer) |
| 专员 | zhuān yuán | assistant director |
| 播音员 | bō yīn yuán | announcer |
| 分析员 | fēn xī yuán | analyst (e.g. of news) |
员 appears in 100 compound words: 6 as the first character, 90 as the last, and 4 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 员 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (13)
Showing 12 of 13 idioms containing 员.
Example Sentences
公司为新员工安排了为期一周的入职培训。
Gōngsī wèi xīn yuángōng ānpái le wéiqī yì zhōu de rùzhí péixùn.
The company arranged a one-week onboarding training for new employees.
视频丨空间站的年夜饭都有什么?听航天员报菜名收祝福
shì pín 丨 kōng jiān zhàn de nián yè fàn dū yǒu shén má ? yǐn háng tiān yuán bào cài míng shōu zhù fú
Video 丨What is the New Year's Eve dinner on the space station? I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to make it. I'm going to be able to make it.
新春走基层丨95后潜水员与千年白鹤梁的水下之约
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng 丨 hòu qián shuǐ yuán yú qiān nián bái hè liáng de shuǐ xià zhī yāo
Spring Festival at the Grassroots Level | Post-95 Diver's Underwater Encounter with the Millennia-Old Baiheliang
北京台春晚“演员”:身高95cm,体重20kg,会..
běi jīng tái chūn wǎn yǎn yuán shēn gāo , tī chóng , huì . .
Beijing TV Spring Festival Gala "Performer": Height 95cm, Weight 20kg, Can...
大年初一全社会跨区域人员流动量超2.1亿人次 全国..
dà nián chū yī quán shè huì kuà ōu yù rén yuán liú dòng liáng chāo . yì rén cì quán guó . .
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, cross-regional travel across the country exceeded 210 million trips.
...愿行 温暖糖球会——青岛公交2路青年党团员助..
. . . yuàn háng wēn nuǎn táng qiú huì qīng dǎo gōng jiāo lù qīng nián dǎng tuán yuán zhù . .
Warm Sugar Ball Club — Qingdao Bus Route 2 Youth Party and League Members Assist...
这位女士是不是推销员？
Zhèwèi nǚshì shìbùshì tuīxiāoyuán?
Is this lady a saleswoman?
感谢所有的翻译人员！
Gǎnxiè suǒyǒu de fānyì rényuán!
Thanks to all the translators!
我对外籍员工没有偏见。
Wǒ duì wàijí yuángōng méiyǒu piānjiàn.
I don't have a prejudice against foreign workers.
仅三分之一的成员出席了会议。
Jǐn sān fēn zhī yī de chéngyuán chūxí le huìyì.
Only one third of the members turned up at the meeting.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 员 (yuán) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 员 have?
What is the radical of 员?
What are the components of 员?
What are common words containing 员?
What characters sound the same as 员 (yuán)?
Is 员 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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