The Chinese word **牺牲品** (xīshēngpǐn), meaning "victim" or "sacrificial offering," is a compound formed through semantic combination. It directly fuses **牺牲**—a term originally denoting animals used in ancient ritual sacrifices, now broadly meaning "to sacrifice"—with the suffix **品**, which indicates an item, object, or article. Thus, the compound literally constructs the concept of "a sacrificial object," metaphorically extended to describe a person or entity sacrificed or destroyed for a cause, ambition, or circumstance, effectively lexicalizing the notion of a helpless victim.