The word "儿子" is formed by combining two pictographic characters, each historically representing a child. The first character, "儿", is a simplified pictograph of a small child, originally depicting a baby with a soft spot on its head. The second character, "子", is also an ancient pictograph of an infant with arms outstretched, wrapped in swaddling clothes. When placed together, they create a compound where both components semantically reinforce the same core idea, intensifying and specifying the meaning to refer specifically to a "son" or a male child, with the doubling of the child imagery emphasizing the familial relationship.