The Chinese word 山洞 (shāndòng), meaning "mountain cave", is a straightforward compound formed by combining two independent characters: 山 (shān), meaning "mountain", and 洞 (dòng), meaning "hole" or "cave". It follows a common modifier-noun structure in Chinese, where the first character 山 specifies the location or type, acting as a descriptive modifier, and the second character 洞 is the core noun, indicating the object itself. Together, they create a new, logical concept where the meaning is directly derived from the sum of its parts, a hole or cave that is in or through a mountain.