The Chinese word "山谷" is formed by combining two pictographic characters: "山", which depicts a mountain with three peaks, and "谷", which originally represented a valley with streams flowing through it. Together, they create a compound where "山" (mountain) conceptually surrounds or defines "谷" (valley), visually and semantically merging to illustrate the natural landscape of a valley nestled between mountains, effectively meaning "mountain valley". This formation relies on the direct pictorial and ideographic association of both characters to convey a single, integrated image.