The Chinese word **公益** (gōngyì), meaning "public welfare" or "charity," is a compound formed by combining two meaningful characters: **公** (gōng), which signifies "public," "common," or "fair," and **益** (yì), which means "benefit," "profit," or "advantage." Together, they create a conceptual compound where the meaning of the whole is derived from the sum of its parts—literally "public benefit." This formation follows a common pattern in Modern Chinese where two-syllable words are created by pairing characters with related semantic fields to express an abstract or complex societal concept, in this case describing actions or initiatives aimed at benefiting the general community rather than private interests.