The word 老太太 is formed through a stepwise, additive process of meaning that visually and conceptually stacks ideas. It begins with the character 老 (old), then modifies and intensifies that idea with 太 (which here means "senior" or "supreme"), and finally specifies the subject by adding another 太, which in this duplicated form carries the associated meaning of "lady" or "madam", resulting in a composite term that sequentially builds the notion of an elderly, venerable woman.