The Chinese word 憎恶 (zēngwù), meaning "to detest" or "to abhor," is a compound formed by combining two synonymous characters, each contributing to a sense of intense dislike. The first character, 憎 (zēng), by itself means "to hate" or "to detest," while the second, 恶 (wù, in this reading), means "to dislike" or "to hate." This structure follows a common pattern in Chinese morphology where two characters with similar meanings are joined to create a single, often more emphatic or formal, disyllabic word. The combination reinforces and nuances the concept, with 憎 providing the core emotional sentiment of hatred and 恶 adding a layer of moral repulsion or strong aversion, resulting in a term stronger than either character alone.