The Chinese word 习俗 (xísú), meaning "custom" or "tradition", is a compound word formed by combining two characters with related meanings: 习 (xí), which conveys "habit", "practice", or "to learn", and 俗 (sú), which means "custom", "convention", or "popular practice". Together, they create a synergistic meaning where 习 emphasizes the learned, habitual aspect of a practice, and 俗 highlights its social, conventional nature within a community. This formation follows a common pattern in Chinese where two semantically similar or complementary characters are joined to form a single, more precise concept, in this case, denoting the established, customary practices that are habitual within a society.