The Chinese word 风尚 (fēngshàng), meaning "prevailing custom" or "vogue", is a semantic compound formed by combining two characters with related meanings. The first character, 风 (fēng), originally means "wind" but is metaphorically extended to signify "trend", "practice", or "custom" as something that spreads like the wind. The second character, 尚 (shàng), means "to esteem", "to value highly", or "to advocate". When combined, the compound conceptually describes the customs or trends that are highly esteemed and followed by society, essentially, the practices or styles that are in fashion and held in high regard at a given time. Thus, the formation captures the idea of a socially elevated and widespread trend.