The word "名义" is formed through the conceptual fusion of its two component characters: "名" (míng), meaning "name", "title", or "reputation", and "义" (yì), meaning "meaning", "righteousness", or "principle". It is not a simple combination of definitions but an ideological compound where the outward designation ("名") is intrinsically linked to its underlying rationale, justification, or principled cause ("义"). Thus, the formation yields a unified concept describing the formal or professed identity of something, be it a role, a reason, or an arrangement, precisely as it is justified or understood in principle, often in contrast to its actual, substantive reality.