The Chinese word **判刑** (pàn xíng) is a verb-object compound formed by combining the character **判** (pàn), meaning "to judge" or "to decide (a case)," with the character **刑** (xíng), meaning "punishment" or "penalty." Literally, the construction follows an action-and-result logic, where the first character denotes the judicial action of making a ruling, and the second character specifies the nature of that ruling—namely, the imposition of a criminal penalty. Thus, the compound naturally means "to sentence" or "to pass a criminal sentence," encapsulating the entire legal act of a court declaring a punishment for a convicted person.