The Chinese word "小弟" is formed through the straightforward combination of two characters: "小", meaning "small" or "young", and "弟", meaning "younger brother". This creates a literal meaning of "small younger brother", where "小" acts as a modifier to "弟", emphasizing youth or junior status. This pattern of adjective-noun compounding is a fundamental method in Chinese for generating new terms, and in this case, it yields a word used both for a familial younger brother and, by extension, to address a younger male or a subordinate in informal or hierarchical social settings.