The word "夫人" is formed through the conceptual combination of its two characters: "夫", which means "man" or "husband", and "人", which means "person". Literally, it reads as "the husband's person", but this construction does not imply possession in a mundane sense. Instead, it evolved as an elegant and honorific term where the reference to the husband establishes the social context and respectability, thereby elevating the meaning to "wife" or "lady", specifically denoting a married woman of high standing or one addressed with formal respect.