The word 家属 is formed by combining two meaningful characters: 家 (jiā), meaning "family" or "home", and 属 (shǔ), meaning "to belong to" or "to be subordinate to". When placed together, they create a conceptual unity where 属 directly modifies and defines the scope of 家, effectively meaning "family members who belong to (a particular person or household)". It is not a random pairing but a logical compound where the second character specifies a relational aspect of the first, resulting in the collective idea of "family dependents" or "one's family members".