The word 佳人 is a classical Chinese compound term formed by combining the character 佳 (jiā), meaning "beautiful", "excellent", or "fine", with 人 (rén), meaning "person". It is a semantic compound where the first character describes the quality of the second, directly translating to "a beautiful/fine person". Historically and poetically, it specifically connotes an idealized woman of virtue and beauty, often used in literary contexts to evoke a sense of longing or admiration. Its formation follows the common Chinese word-formation pattern of an adjective modifying a noun to create a refined and evocative nominal phrase.