The word 受害者 is formed by combining the character 受, which conveys "to undergo" or "suffer", with 害, meaning "harm" or "injury", to create the compound 受害, expressing the idea of "suffering harm". This compound is then paired with the character 者, which serves as an agent marker to denote "the one who" or "the person associated with", thereby collectively referring to "the one who suffers harm" or "victim". This structure builds meaning sequentially from action to consequence to the affected individual, resulting in a term that intuitively identifies someone impacted by a negative event.