The Chinese word 稀有 (xīyǒu), meaning "rare" or "scarce", is a compound word formed by combining two independent characters: 稀, which means "sparse", "thin", or "rare", and 有, which means "to have" or "to exist". The formation is semantic, where the two morphemes' meanings merge to create a new concept. Literally, it conveys the idea of "sparsely existing", where 稀 describes the state or degree and 有 confirms the existence, together emphasizing that something is so uncommon that its very presence is notable. This structure follows a common pattern in Chinese where an adjective (稀) modifies a verb (有) to form an adjective describing a quality of scarcity.