The Chinese word 商务 (shāngwù), meaning "business" or "commercial affairs", is a compound word formed by combining two meaningful characters: 商 (shāng), which originally meant "to discuss" or "to trade" and now primarily means "commerce" or "business", and 务 (wù), which means "affairs", "tasks", or "duties". When combined, they create a new, specific concept where 商 modifies the type of "affairs", resulting in the meaning "commercial matters" or "business activities". This formation follows a common Chinese word-construction pattern where two independent, related morphemes are joined to form a precise, often more formal or technical term.