The word 作秀 is formed by combining the character 作, meaning "to do" or "to make", with 秀, meaning "to show" or "display", which is a phonetic borrowing from the English word "show". Together, they create a verb where 作 acts as the action and 秀 as the object, literally meaning "to do a show", and it is used to describe acting or presenting oneself in a way that is intentionally conspicuous or insincere.