The Chinese word "和尚" (héshang), meaning "Buddhist monk", is a phonetic and semantic loan formation originating from the Sanskrit term "upādhyāya", which referred to a "preceptor" or "teacher" in monastic communities. Through the transmission of Buddhism into China via Central Asian languages, the term was transliterated into Chinese using characters whose sounds approximated the foreign word: "和" (hé) for the initial sound and "尚" (shang) for the latter part. Over time, these characters, particularly "尚" which can carry connotations of "esteem" or "high authority", were fixed to specifically denote a fully ordained monk who provides spiritual guidance, thus creating a stable, meaningful compound in Chinese.