The word 元素 (yuánsù), meaning "element", is formed through semantic synthesis, where two independent characters, each with their own core meaning, combine to create a new, compound concept. The character 元 conveys "origin", "first", or "fundamental", while 素 means "basic", "essential", or "unadorned". When merged, they conceptually fuse to express the idea of a "fundamental substance" or a "primary constituent", perfectly capturing the scientific notion of an irreducible building block of matter, a meaning solidified through its modern use as a translation for the Western scientific term "element".