The Chinese word 话筒 (huàtǒng), meaning "microphone" or "telephone transmitter", is a logical compound formed by combining two meaningful characters: 话 (huà), which means "speech" or "words", and 筒 (tǒng), which means "tube" or "cylinder". Together, they create a metaphorical compound where 筒 (tube) represents the physical, cylindrical shape of the device, and 话 (speech) indicates its function of handling or transmitting voice, thus forming the concept of a "speech tube" or an instrument for conveying spoken words.