The Chinese word 冷漠 is a compound adjective formed by combining two characters, each contributing to its overall meaning of emotional detachment. The first character, 冷 (lěng), literally means "cold", conveying a sense of low temperature or lack of warmth. The second character, 漠 (mò), carries meanings of "indifferent", "apathetic", or "vast and empty", like a desert. When paired, 冷 describes the temperature of feeling, while 漠 intensifies it by evoking a vast, uncaring emptiness; together, they metaphorically describe a person's attitude as coldly indifferent, unfeeling, and deliberately distant, as in showing 冷漠的态度 (a cold and indifferent attitude).