The word "饲养员" is formed by combining the character 饲, meaning "to feed", with 养, meaning "to raise or cultivate", creating the compound verb 饲养, which signifies the action of raising animals through feeding and care. The character 员, meaning "person" or "member", is then appended as a suffix to indicate a person who performs this role, resulting in a noun that refers to an animal keeper or breeder.