The word **卷心菜** (juǎnxīncài), meaning "cabbage," is a vivid compound noun formed through descriptive morphology: **卷** (juǎn) means "to curl" or "to roll up," **心** (xīn) means "heart" or "core," and **菜** (cài) means "vegetable." Thus, the term literally translates to "curled-heart vegetable," perfectly picturing the vegetable's essential characteristic—its tightly layered leaves curling inward to form a dense, heart-like head. This formation exemplifies a common Chinese linguistic pattern where words are constructed by logically combining meaningful characters to visually and conceptually define an object.