The Chinese word 妓院 (jìyuàn), meaning "brothel", is a compound noun formed through semantic combination: the first character 妓 (jì) historically denotes a female entertainer or courtesan, often associated with professions involving performance and companionship, while the second character 院 (yuàn) means "courtyard", "compound", or "establishment". Together, they literally construct the concept of "a courtyard or establishment of courtesans", where 院 provides the spatial and institutional context, and 妓 specifies the primary occupants or activity, resulting in a term that explicitly identifies a place for commercial sex work.