The word 液体 is formed by combining two meaningful characters: 液 (yè), which means "liquid" or "fluid", and 体 (tǐ), which means "body" or "substance". When placed together, the first character specifies the state or type, and the second character denotes the general category of matter, so the compound literally and conceptually means "a liquid substance" or "a body of fluid", defining the concept of a liquid in physical terms.