The word 糖尿病 (tángniàobìng) for "diabetes" is formed through direct, descriptive observation of the disease's most recognizable historical symptom. It literally combines the concepts of 糖 (sugar), 尿 (urine), and 病 (disease), creating the transparent compound "sugar urine disease". This name originated from ancient Chinese medical detection, where physicians identified the condition by noticing the characteristic sweet taste or attraction of ants to a patient's urine, thus naming it after this visible pathological sign.