The word **剽窃 (piāoqiè)**, meaning "to plagiarize," is a compound formed through the combination of two semantically similar characters: **剽** conveys the sense of "to rob" or "to plunder" (often swiftly and violently), while **窃** means "to steal" (typically in a secretive or furtive manner). Together, they create a powerful, metaphorical term where the act of stealing tangible property is applied to the abstract realm of ideas and written work. The formation follows a common Chinese lexical pattern of pairing near-synonyms to intensify and specify the meaning, resulting in a word that vividly denotes the dishonest act of taking someone else's intellectual or creative work and presenting it as one's own.