The word 孤儿院 is formed by combining three meaningful characters: 孤 (gū), meaning "alone" or "solitary", 儿 (ér), meaning "child", and 院 (yuàn), meaning "courtyard" or "institution". These characters are assembled conceptually, where the first two (孤儿) logically combine to mean "a child who is alone", or an orphan. This idea is then placed into the setting of the third character (院), creating the complete concept of "an institution for orphans", or an orphanage. It is a direct, pictorial assembly of ideas where each part contributes to a clear, compound meaning.