The Chinese term "二战" (Èr Zhàn) is a highly condensed, numeral-driven abbreviation formed through lexical clipping of the full phrase "第二次世界大战" (Dì Èr Cì Shìjiè Dàzhàn, meaning "Second World War"). It follows a common Sino-Chinese word-formation pattern where the head noun "大战" (great war) is reduced to its core element "战" (war), and the lengthy ordinal-number modifier "第二次" (the second) is simplified to the numeral "二" (two), while the specifying element "世界" (world) is omitted as its meaning is implicitly understood from historical context. This results in a concise, two-character compound that efficiently conveys "the second (world) war".