The word 严重 is formed by combining two distinct characters, each contributing a core conceptual layer to the resulting meaning. The first character, 严 (yán), originally picturing a紧迫 or solemn situation, carries the essential idea of sternness, tightness, or rigor. The second, 重 (zhòng), derived from a pictogram of a person carrying a heavy burden, contributes the fundamental concept of weight, heaviness, or great significance. When fused, these characters do not merely add their meanings but synthesize them to evoke the composite notion of a condition that is both unyieldingly stern and profoundly weighty, hence conveying seriousness, severity, or critical gravity. The formation is a conceptual metaphor, picturing a situation as both tightly constricting and heavily burdensome.