The Chinese word **混凝土** (hùnníngtǔ), meaning "concrete," is a semantically descriptive compound formed by combining three characters: **混** (hùn, "to mix"), **凝** (níng, "to congeal" or "solidify"), and **土** (tǔ, "earth" or "soil-like substance"). It is not a phonetic loan but rather a literal and logical construction that describes the material's essential process and nature—it is a *mixed* substance that *solidifies* into a hard, rock-like *earth*. This type of word formation is common in Chinese for technical terms, where characters are chosen to illustrate the function or properties of the object.