The Chinese word 安全帽 is formed by combining the characters 安 (meaning "safe"), 全 (meaning "complete" or "whole"), and 帽 (meaning "hat" or "cap"). The first two characters together, 安全, create the concept of "safety" or "security", which then modifies the third character 帽, resulting in a compound term that literally means "safety hat" and specifically refers to a protective helmet.