The word 郁闷 is formed by combining two characters that each contribute a layer of sensory and emotional imagery to create a single, powerful concept. The first character, 郁, evokes a sense of something dense, tangled, or gloomily stagnant, like a thicket or accumulated, pent-up energy. The second, 闷, conveys the feeling of being sealed in, suffocated, or oppressed, as by heat or a lack of air. Together, they merge into a composite portrait of a stifled, gloomy, and emotionally congested state, where one's feelings are both densely knotted internally and trapped without release, much like being in a closed room on a heavy, overcast day.