The word 医生 (yīshēng, "doctor") is formed by combining two characters: 医 (yī), which means "medicine" or "healing", and 生 (shēng), which in this context means "a person" or "a professional". It is a compound where the first character defines the field or practice (medicine/healing), and the second character identifies the human agent who performs it. Thus, the term literally and conceptually denotes "a person of medicine" or "healing professional", creating its meaning through this direct semantic combination.