Based on Cultural Cognitive Linguistics, this paper investigates word families containing the morpheme “ren” (人rén). Through multidimensional comparisons of word formation, semantic features, and socio-cultural connotations, it reveals the deep-seated differences in English and Chinese lexical systems and their underlying cultural-cognitive motivations. It is found that the Chinese word system with “human being” as its core is highly productive and regular, reflecting the Eastern comprehensive thinking and group-oriented view, while English relies on the derivation and recombination of multi-origin roots, reflecting the Western analytical thinking and individualistic tradition. At the semantic level, Chinese builds a hierarchical semantic field through the fixed pattern of “modifier + person”, whereas English is characterized by multiple etymologies and a decentralized semantic structure. This study provides theoretical support for cross-cultural communication and language teaching from a cognitive perspective, and emphasizes the need to pay attention to the cultural rationale behind vocabulary in language teaching.
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