The word "少年" is formed through the semantic combination of its two constituent characters: "少", which conveys the idea of "few" or "young", and "年", which means "year". Together, they create a composite concept where "few years" metaphorically represents the stage of life characterized by youth and adolescence. This formation is a direct conceptual blend, where the modifier ("少") qualitatively describes the noun ("年") to evoke a specific period of human development, relying on an implied, pictorial logic rather than grammatical rules to forge its meaning.