The Chinese word 别扭 (bièniu) is formed through the compounding of two meaningful characters, each contributing to its overall figurative meaning. The first character, 别 (bié), originally means "to separate" or "don't", but in this context, it carries a sense of "awkward" or "contrary". The second character, 扭 (niǔ), means "to twist" or "to turn". When combined, the literal sense of "twisted apart" or "against the natural twist" evolves into a metaphorical adjective describing a state of being awkward, uncomfortable, difficult, or stubborn, whether referring to a situation, a relationship, or a person's temperament. Thus, the formation relies on both the semantic contributions of each morpheme and the conceptual blending that creates a new, abstract meaning from concrete actions.