The word 设计师 (shèjìshī) is formed by logically combining three meaningful characters: 设 (shè), which carries the idea of "to set up" or "to conceive"; 计 (jì), which means "to plan" or "to calculate"; and finally 师 (shī), which denotes a "master", "specialist", or "professional". The term builds conceptually from the action of "designing" (设计) and then appends the agent suffix to specify the person who performs that action, thus creating the compound meaning of "design professional" or "designer".