The Chinese word 殖民地 (zhímíndì), meaning "colony", is a modern compound formed through semantic translation, primarily borrowed from Japanese kanji compounds (wasē-kango) during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as China engaged with Western political concepts. It is constructed from three morphemes: 殖 (zhí), meaning "to cultivate, settle, or propagate"; 民 (mín), meaning "people"; and 地 (dì), meaning "land" or "territory". Thus, the term literally and conceptually conveys "land where people have been settled or propagated", accurately reflecting the process and result of colonial settlement, and is a direct calque of the English word "colony" from its Latin root colere (to cultivate, inhabit).