The word 环保 (huánbǎo), meaning "environmental protection", is formed by combining two meaningful characters: 环 (huán), which means "environment" or "surroundings", and 保 (bǎo), which means "to protect" or "to preserve". It is a conceptual fusion where the first character defines the realm or subject, the environment, and the second character specifies the action or goal applied to it, protection. This creates a direct, intuitive compound where the meaning of the whole is essentially the sum of its parts, representing the idea of safeguarding the natural world.