The word 统计 is formed through the logical combination of two meaningful characters: 统 (tǒng), which conveys the idea of "bringing together" or "interconnected as a whole" (like the threads in a skein), and 计 (jì), which means "to calculate", "reckon", or "plan". Together, they conceptually describe the process of "bringing together (data or items) for calculation", perfectly capturing the essence of the modern term "statistics", the practice of collecting, classifying, and analyzing numerical data in aggregate to understand a larger system or trend. The formation is semantic, where the combined meaning of the parts directly and intuitively defines the whole.