The Chinese word 主人公 is formed by sequentially combining the characters 主 (zhǔ), meaning "main" or "master", 人 (rén), meaning "person", and 公 (gōng), meaning "public" or "official"; 主 modifies 人 to create "main person", and 公 extends this to convey a central, formal role, resulting in a term that specifically denotes the protagonist or key figure in a narrative or context.