The word 日记 is formed through the direct and conceptual combination of its two component characters: 日 (rì), meaning "sun" or by extension "day", and 记 (jì), meaning "to record" or "a record". It is a compound where the first element, 日, specifies the scope or frequency (daily), and the second element, 记, provides the core activity (recording). Together, they create a new, unified concept meaning "a daily record" or "diary", where the sense of the whole is logically derived from the sequential relationship of its parts, a record organized by, or made each, day.