The word 比赛 is formed by combining two characters with closely related meanings to create a single, more specific concept. The first character, 比, carries the core idea of "comparing" or "competing against". The second character, 赛, means "to contest" or "to match". When placed together, they form a compound where each part reinforces and narrows the meaning of the other, evolving from the general notion of comparison into the concrete idea of a "competition" or "match", where the act of comparing is formalized into a contest with rules and an outcome.