The Chinese word 社会学 is constructed from three characters: 社 (shè), which conveys "society" or "community", and 会 (huì), which denotes "association" or "gathering", together forming 社会 (shèhuì), meaning "society". This compound is then combined with 学 (xué), meaning "study" or "learning", resulting in 社会学, literally translating to "the study of society" and referring to the field of sociology.