The Chinese word 补救 is a compound formed by combining two individual characters, each with its own meaning, to create a new, nuanced concept. The first character, 补 (bǔ), means "to mend", "to repair", or "to supplement". The second character, 救 (jiù), means "to rescue", "to save", or "to remedy". When paired together in the verb-object structure common in Chinese morphology, they form a cohesive concept where 补 acts as the method and 救 acts as the goal; thus, 补救 literally means "to mend and save", or more fluidly, "to remedy", "to rectify", or "to make up for" an error or deficiency, implying an active effort to repair a mistake and prevent or mitigate its negative consequences.