The word 事件 is formed by conceptually merging two characters: 事, which broadly means an affair, matter, or occurrence, and 件, which denotes a discrete item, unit, or piece of something. Together, they create a compound where the second character (件) acts to quantify and concretize the first (事), transforming the general idea of "an affair" into the more specific notion of "a single, distinct incident" or "a defined event", often with an implication of significance or consequence. It is the fusion of the abstract concept of a happening with the concrete notion of an individual instance.