The word "金融" (jīnróng), meaning "finance", is formed through a conceptual metaphor that visualizes the movement of capital. It combines "金" (jīn), which originally means "metal" but here represents "money" or "wealth" (historically rooted in metal coinage), with "融" (róng), meaning "to melt", "to fuse", or "to circulate". Together, they create the image of wealth that is melted down from a solid, static state into a liquid, fluid form, thereby conceptually representing the essential nature of finance as the liquidity and circulation of money within an economy.