The word **失职 (shīzhí)** is a compound formed through the combination of two meaningful characters: **失 (shī)**, meaning "to lose," "to fail," or "to err," and **职 (zhí)**, meaning "duty," "office," or "position." Grammatically, it follows a **verb-object structure** where 失 acts as the verb ("to fail") and 职 acts as its object ("one's duty"). Thus, the term literally and figuratively means "to neglect one's duty" or "to derelict one's official responsibilities," describing a failure to fulfill the obligations inherent to a specific role or profession.