The word "创造性" is formed by combining the characters 创 (chuàng), meaning "to initiate" or "create", and 造 (zào), meaning "to make" or "build", into the compound verb 创造 (chuàngzào), which means "to create". This is then suffixed with 性 (xìng), a nominalizer denoting "quality" or "nature", resulting in a noun that means "creativity" or "the quality of being creative".