The Chinese word 触犯 (chùfàn) is a compound formed by combining two independent characters, each with its own semantic contribution: 触 (chù), meaning "to touch" or "to make contact with", and 犯 (fàn), meaning "to offend", "to violate", or "to encroach upon". Together, they create a metaphorical and legalistic meaning where the physical sense of "touching" (触) is abstracted to mean "coming into contact with or crossing a boundary", which then directly leads to the consequence of "violating" (犯) a law, rule, or taboo. Thus, the term as a whole means "to offend against" or "to transgress", illustrating how Chinese compounds often build figurative meaning through the logical combination of simpler, concrete characters.