The Chinese word 醉鬼 (zuìguǐ), meaning "drunkard", is a compound noun formed through semantic combination. It directly combines 醉 (zuì), meaning "drunk" or "intoxicated", with 鬼 (guǐ), which literally means "ghost" or "spirit". In this construction, 鬼 is used metaphorically as a disparaging suffix to describe a person characterized by the quality of the first character, implying a wretched, uncontrollable, or ghost-like state. Thus, a "醉鬼" is not literally a ghost but a person who is habitually or disgracefully drunk, with the term carrying a colloquial and mildly insulting tone similar to "drunkard" or "sot" in English.