The word 儿童 is formed by combining two characters that each independently convey the concept of a young person. The first character, 儿, is a pictograph that originally depicted a child with an open fontanel on its head, emphasizing infancy. The second, 童, historically represented a young servant or juvenile, carrying a nuance of youthfulness. By joining them, the compound creates a reinforced and more general, modern concept of "child", where their similar meanings merge to specify and solidify the term, moving away from any archaic individual connotations to form a standard, unified word.