The word 慢慢 is formed through the poetic and perceptual device of doubling the single character 慢 (màn), meaning "slow". This repetition visually and conceptually mimics the very essence of gradualness, stretching and extending the quality of slowness itself. It creates an intensified, continuous, or more lingering sense of the core idea, as if one "slow" is layered upon another to evoke a drawn-out, unhurried, or gently persistent state.