The Chinese word 纵容 (zòngróng), meaning "to indulge" or "to connive at," is a compound formed by combining two characters with related meanings. The first character, 纵 (zòng), carries the sense of "to release," "to let loose," or "to indulge," suggesting an active removal of restraint. The second character, 容 (róng), means "to tolerate," "to permit," or "to contain." When paired, they create a synergistic meaning that is more severe than either character alone: 纵 implies actively letting something run wild, while 容 implies passive allowance or acceptance; together, they describe the act of not just passively tolerating but actively enabling or indulging someone's negative behavior, often with a critical connotation of fostering wrongdoing through excessive permissiveness.