The Chinese word 北美 (Běi-Měi), meaning "North America", is formed through a straightforward compound process common in Mandarin, where two independent characters are combined to create a new, specific meaning. The first character, 北 (běi), means "north", and the second, 美 (měi), is a widely recognized abbreviation for 美国 (Měiguó), meaning "America" or "the United States". However, in this compounded form, 美 extends metonymically to represent the entire American continent, so 北美 literally and conceptually translates to "Northern America", effectively identifying the continental landmass. This method of geographic naming is analogous to other terms like 南美 (Nán-Měi) for "South America".