The word 口味 is formed by conceptually combining two characters: 口 (kǒu), meaning "mouth", and 味 (wèi), meaning "flavor" or "taste". It is a straightforward compound where the first character specifies the physical organ or locus of the experience (the mouth), and the second character specifies the nature of the experience itself (flavor). Together, they create a single concept that moves from the literal sense of "the flavor of food" to the more abstract idea of a person's "taste" or "preference", as one's likes are fundamentally shaped by what one finds pleasing to the palate.