The Chinese word 地球 is formed by combining two characters: 地, which means "ground" or "land", and 球, which means "ball" or "sphere". Together, they create a compound that literally translates to "ground sphere" or "earth ball", conceptually representing the planet Earth as a spherical body. This formation visually and semantically conveys the idea of the Earth as a round celestial object composed of land, directly linking the familiar concept of the ground to the shape of a globe.