According to Wiktionary, it comes from the Chinese word 人參, which means “ginseng”, because the shape of ginseng looks kinda like the legs of a man. 參 may have originally meant “root”, but the etymology is unclear.
According to Wiktionary, it comes from the Chinese word 人參, which means “ginseng”, because the shape of ginseng looks kinda like the legs of a man. 參 may have originally meant “root”, but the etymology is unclear.