The Chinese word "怯懦" is formed by combining two characters, each constructed with the "heart" radical (忄) to indicate relation to emotion or psychology. The first character, "怯", incorporates the phonetic component "去" to approximate pronunciation and contributes the meaning of timidity, while the second character, "懦", uses the phonetic component "需" for pronunciation and adds the meaning of weakness or frailty; together, they create a compound word where both components semantically reinforce the concept of cowardice.