The Chinese word 冷却 (lěngquè), meaning "to cool down", is a compound formed through morphological derivation, specifically by combining two semantic components: the character 冷 (lěng), which means "cold", and 却 (què), which carries the meaning of "to retreat", "to decline", or "to withdraw". Together, they create a verb-object (V-O) semantic relationship where 冷 acts as the adjectival state and 却 implies the process of moving toward that state; thus, the compound literally conveys the action of "making cold retreat" or, more naturally, the process of losing heat and becoming cold. This formation is typical of modern Chinese technical and scientific terminology, where existing characters are logically combined to express precise, often physical, processes.