The word 伴娘 is formed by combining two meaningful characters: 伴 (bàn), which means "companion" or "to accompany", and 娘 (niáng), which means "young woman" or "daughter". Together, they create a compound that visually and conceptually depicts a "bride's female companion", specifically, the young woman who accompanies and assists the bride during the wedding ceremony. This formation directly mirrors the role's function, building the term from its core components of action (accompanying) and identity (the young woman), resulting in an intuitive and descriptive whole.