The word 学院 is formed by combining two characters: 学 (xué), which means "to study" or "learning", and 院 (yuàn), which originally meant a courtyard or enclosed compound but evolved to signify a large institution or establishment. They are fused together conceptually, where the first character defines the primary activity (learning/study) and the second character defines the type of place or organization (an institutional compound). Together, they create a new, unified concept for a specific place of advanced learning, forming the compound word for "college" or "academy".