The Chinese word 归咎 (guījiù) is a compound verb formed by combining two semantically related characters: 归 (guī), which means "to return to" or "to attribute to," and 咎 (jiù), which means "fault," "blame," or "to censure." Together, they create a synthetic compound where 归 acts as a verb indicating the action of directing or assigning, and 咎 functions as its object, representing the negative consequence or culpability being assigned. Thus, the word literally means "to attribute (the fault) to" or "to lay the blame on," and is used to describe the act of holding someone or something responsible for a mistake or misfortune. This formation follows a common pattern in Chinese where a verb-object relationship is encapsulated within a single disyllabic word.