The Chinese word "黑手党" is formed by directly translating the "Black Hand" concept associated with the Italian Mafia, combining the character 黑 (hēi, meaning "black") to imply secrecy or evil, 手 (shǒu, meaning "hand") to represent action or influence, and 党 (dǎng, meaning "party" or "group") to denote an organized faction, thus creating a term for a criminal organization.