The Chinese word 危急 (wēijí) is a coordinating compound formed by combining two independent, semantically related characters: 危 (wēi), meaning "danger" or "peril", and 急 (jí), meaning "urgency" or "critical". In this structure, both morphemes contribute equally to the overall meaning, creating a new term whose sense is an intensified amalgamation of its parts, specifically denoting a critically dangerous and urgent situation where immediate action is required. This method of word formation, common in Chinese, efficiently expresses a complex, nuanced state (a pressing crisis) by leveraging the synonymous or complementary relationship between the two characters.