The word 悲天悯人 is formed by the conjunction of two distinct verb-object phrases: 悲天, where 悲 means "to grieve" and 天 means "heaven" or "the world", and 悯人, where 悯 means "to pity" and 人 means "people". These are combined into a four-character idiom where the first phrase modifies the second, structurally mirroring each other to express a compound idea.