The Chinese word 银河系 (yínhéxì), meaning "galaxy" (specifically the Milky Way galaxy), is formed through semantic compounding: it combines 银河 (yínhé), the poetic name for the Milky Way translating literally to "Silver River," with the suffix 系 (xì), meaning "system." Thus, the entire compound 银河系 directly and logically constructs the concept of the "Silver River System," moving from the ancient cultural observation of a luminous band in the night sky to the modern astronomical understanding of it as a specific galactic system.