The Chinese word 害人 (hàirén) is a compound verb formed by combining the character 害, meaning "to harm" or "to injure," with the character 人, meaning "person" or "people." It follows a straightforward verb-object grammatical structure common in Chinese, where the action (害) directly acts upon its target (人). Therefore, the word literally means "to harm people" and is used to describe the act of causing injury, trouble, or misfortune to others, either physically or through schemes and slander.