The character 十二, meaning "twelve", is formed through a straightforward compositional logic. It combines the single character 十 (shí), representing the quantity ten, with the character 二 (èr), representing the quantity two. They are written side-by-side in the standard Chinese writing order to create a compound numeral that functions as a single lexical unit, where the first component establishes the base ten and the second component adds to it, yielding the sum of twelve.