The Chinese word 哀伤 (āishāng), meaning "sorrow" or "grief," is a compound formed through the combination of two synonymous characters to create a nuanced and emphatic meaning. The first character, 哀 (āi), primarily conveys "mourning," "sorrow," or "pity," while the second, 伤 (shāng), carries meanings of "hurt," "wound," or "distress." In this parallel or coordinative structure, both characters contribute their related semantic fields of emotional pain, with 哀 emphasizing the internal feeling of sadness and 伤 often implying the resultant hurt or injury from that feeling. Together, they form a single, more expressive term that intensifies the concept of profound sadness, characteristic of many disyllabic words in modern Chinese that evolved for rhythmic and clarity purposes from classical monosyllabic roots.