The Chinese word 协商 (xiéshāng), meaning "to consult" or "to negotiate", is a compound word formed by combining two meaningful characters: 协 (xié), which carries the sense of "to cooperate", "to harmonize", or "to unite", and 商 (shāng), which means "to discuss", "to deliberate", or "to trade". Together, these components create a semantically transparent term where 协 modifies the nature of the 商, specifying that the discussion is not adversarial but a cooperative and joint process aimed at reaching a mutual agreement or consensus. This formation follows the common Chinese morphological pattern of combining two verbs or concepts to produce a new, more precise term that encapsulates the entire collaborative deliberative process.