The word 曾经 is formed by combining two characters that each contribute a layer of temporal meaning. 曾 originally depicted steam rising from a ritual vessel, conveying a sense of layering or something that has accumulated over time, thus coming to mean "already" or "once". 经 originally represented the warp threads on a loom, evoking the idea of continuity, passage, and traversing through. Together, they create a composite concept of "that which has already passed through the continuum of time", pictorially conveying the sense of a completed past experience or a former state.