The Chinese word 北极熊 (běijíxióng), meaning "polar bear," is a semantically transparent compound formed by combining three characters: 北 (běi, "north"), 极 (jí, "extreme" or "pole"), and 熊 (xióng, "bear"). The first two characters, 北极, together form the word for the "North Pole" or "Arctic," which is then directly linked to 熊 ("bear") to specify the type of animal that inhabits that region. Thus, the term is constructed entirely logically, describing the bear of the North Pole, making its meaning immediately clear from its constituent parts.