The Chinese word "老虎" is formed by combining the character "老" (lǎo), which originally means "old", with "虎" (hǔ), meaning "tiger". This pairing arose from historical naming conventions in Chinese where "老" was often attached to animal names, not to imply age but to create a familiar or colloquial term. Over time, this combination solidified into the standard word for tiger, with "老" becoming an inherent part of the word rather than carrying its literal meaning, resulting in a fixed two-character compound that denotes the animal.