The Chinese word 喘气 (chuǎnqì) is a verb-object compound formed by combining the character 喘 (chuǎn), meaning "to pant" or "to gasp", with 气 (qì), meaning "breath" or "air". In this construction, the first character denotes the action, and the second character acts as the object of that action, so the literal meaning is "to pant breath". Together, they create the common verb meaning "to breathe deeply" or "to catch one's breath", typically after exertion or due to shortness of breath, illustrating how Chinese frequently forms words by logically combining meaningful monosyllabic units.