The word 趣事 is formed by combining the character 趣, which means "interest" or "amusement", and the character 事, which means "matter" or "affair". The character 趣 itself is constructed from the semantic component 走, indicating movement, and the phonetic component 取, which suggests its pronunciation. In this compound, 趣 acts as a modifier for 事, specifying that the matter is interesting or amusing, resulting in the meaning "anecdote" or "interesting event".