The Chinese word "恐惧症" (kǒngjùzhèng), meaning "phobia", is a compound noun formed by combining the root "恐惧" (kǒngjù), which means "fear" or "dread", with the suffix "症" (zhèng), which denotes a medical disorder or condition. Structurally, it follows a common pattern in modern Chinese terminology where a descriptive term is paired with "症" to specify a type of pathological or psychological syndrome, directly translating to "fear disorder" and semantically aligning with the English medical suffix "-phobia".