The Chinese word 年鉴 (niánjiàn), meaning "yearbook" or "almanac", is a compound formed through semantic combination. The first character 年 (nián) means "year", indicating the annual periodicity of the publication. The second character 鉴 (jiàn) originally means "mirror" but is used metaphorically here to mean "reference", "reflection", or "record to consult". Therefore, the compound literally signifies a "yearly mirror" or "annual reference", succinctly conveying its function as a comprehensive record and reference work published each year.