The term 叛国罪 (pànguó zuì), meaning "the crime of treason," is formed through a logical and sequential compounding of three distinct characters: 叛 (pàn) means "to betray" or "rebel," 国 (guó) means "country" or "state," and 罪 (zuì) means "crime" or "offense." It is structured as a verb-object-noun phrase where "叛" acts upon "国" to create the concept of "betraying the country," which is then categorically defined as a specific type of "罪" (crime). This formation exemplifies a common pattern in Chinese legal terminology where an action and its target are combined and then classified under a broader legal category.