The Chinese word 同性 (tóngxìng) is a compound word formed by combining two meaningful characters: 同 (tóng), meaning "same" or "identical", and 性 (xìng), meaning "gender", "sex", or "nature". Literally, it means "same gender" or "same nature". In modern usage, it primarily refers to the concept of sameness in gender, most commonly forming terms like 同性恋 (homosexuality), where 恋 means "love" or "attraction", thus creating the meaning "same-gender love". Its formation follows the standard Chinese morphological pattern of combining independent, meaningful morphemes to create a new, semantically transparent compound.