The Chinese word "男朋友" is formed by combining the character "男", meaning "male", with the compound "朋友", meaning "friend". This creates a literal meaning of "male friend", but through contextual usage in modern Chinese, it has evolved to specifically denote a romantic partner, i.e., a boyfriend. The formation simply adds the gender specification "男" to the general term for friend, resulting in a new word that conveys a distinct social relationship.