The word "国务卿" is formed by sequentially combining three characters: 国 (guó), meaning "state" or "country"; 务 (wù), meaning "affairs" or "duties"; and 卿 (qīng), a historical term for a "high-ranking official" or "minister". The first two characters, 国务, create the compound meaning "state affairs", and the addition of 卿 specifies this as the official overseeing state affairs, resulting in the term for "Secretary of State", as used in the United States government.