The word 办公室 (office) is formed by the logical stacking of three meaningful characters to create a complete concept. It begins with 办, meaning "to handle" or "manage", conveying the core action. This is combined with 公, meaning "public" or "official", specifying that the management is for collective or official business. Finally, 室, meaning "room", is added to provide the physical location where this official management occurs. Thus, the formation visually and conceptually moves from the action, to its nature, to its containing space, building the integrated idea of a room for conducting official work.