The Chinese word "氧气" (yǎngqì), meaning "oxygen", is formed by combining two characters: "氧", which conveys the idea of nourishing or supporting life, reflecting oxygen's vital role in respiration and combustion, and "气", which denotes a gaseous state. Together, they create a compound term that literally translates to "nourishing gas", directly describing the element's essential function as a life-sustaining component of air. This formation exemplifies how Chinese often constructs scientific terms by semantically merging descriptive elements to capture the inherent properties or purposes of the concept.