The word 事实 is formed by combining two characters: 事 (shì), which means "matter", "event", or "affair", and 实 (shí), which means "solid", "true", or "actual". Together, they create a conceptual compound where 事 provides the notion of an incident or circumstance, and 实 qualifies it as being genuine, concrete, and verifiable. Thus, the formation directly and intuitively builds the meaning of "fact" from the core ideas of a "real matter" or an "actual event".