The Chinese word 专利 (zhuānlì), meaning "patent", is a modern compound formed by combining two classical morphemes: 专 (zhuān), which means "exclusive", "specialized", or "to monopolize", and 利 (lì), meaning "benefit", "profit", or "advantage". Thus, the term conceptually translates to "exclusive benefit" or "monopoly profit", directly capturing the core legal and economic essence of a patent, a time-limited exclusive right granted by the state to an inventor to commercially exploit their invention, thereby protecting the profit or advantage derived from that specialized creation. This formation follows the standard Chinese practice of creating new terminology by logically combining existing meaningful characters to convey a precise, composite idea.