The word 万分 is formed through a conceptual and metaphorical combination of its two constituent characters: 万 (wàn), meaning "ten thousand" or "myriad" (representing an immense whole or the highest degree), and 分 (fēn), meaning "a fraction", "a part", or "to divide". Together, they create the idea of dividing that immense whole into its ten-thousandth part, thereby evoking the notion of an extreme, minute degree or the utmost intensity, as in feeling or describing something "ten-thousand parts" deeply or completely.