The word 危机 (wēijī) is formed by combining two conceptual characters: 危 (wēi), meaning "danger" or "peril", and 机 (jī), meaning "critical point", "pivotal moment", or "opportunity". Its formation does not describe a simple state of danger but instead encapsulates a profound, classical Chinese worldview where extreme circumstances contain within themselves the potential for turning points and transformation. The term conceptually fuses these two opposing forces into a single, unified idea, representing the inherent duality and cyclical nature of situations, where the point of greatest danger is simultaneously the moment of greatest latent opportunity.