The word 基督徒 is formed by logically assembling three meaningful characters: 基 (foundation, representing "Christ" via phonetic and semantic borrowing in Christian context) and 督 (supervisor/overseer) combine to create the compound 基督, meaning "Christ". This is then immediately followed by the character 徒, meaning follower or disciple. Thus, the entire construction conceptually builds from "Christ" + "follower" to directly mean "a follower of Christ", or Christian.