The Chinese word **江湖 (jiānghú)** is a compound term formed by combining the characters for "river" (**江**) and "lake" (**湖**). Literally, it refers to the vast network of rivers and lakes, but its meaning evolved metaphorically. In classical Chinese literature and martial arts culture, it came to symbolize the itinerant world of wandering knights, performers, and outcasts who traveled these waterways, operating outside official society. This gave rise to its modern abstract meanings, representing the complex, often clandestine society of martial artists, the "underworld" of any profession, or the wider, unpredictable world of human affairs and social struggles. Thus, its formation moves from a concrete geographical concept to a rich cultural idiom denoting a distinct realm with its own rules and ethos.