The word "动手术" is formed by the verb 动 (dòng), meaning "to act" or "to perform", combined with the compound noun 手术 (shǒushù), meaning "surgery". 手术 itself derives from 手 (shǒu), meaning "hand", and 术 (shù), meaning "technique", directly referring to a manual medical procedure. Together, 动手术 functions as a verb-object phrase where 动 indicates the action of carrying out the surgical technique, thus meaning "to perform surgery".