The word 总结 is formed by combining two characters, each contributing a core concept to create a new, unified meaning. The first character, 总 (zǒng), carries the idea of "gathering together", "generalizing", or "overall". The second character, 结 (jié), means "to tie", "to knot", or "to conclude". When joined, they create a powerful visual and conceptual metaphor: the act of gathering together all strands of thought, information, or experience and tying them into a final knot, thereby producing a coherent conclusion or summary. It is the process of bringing scattered elements to a unified and definitive end point.