The Chinese word "战争" is formed by combining two individual characters, each with its own historical and visual meaning. The first character, "战", originally depicted elements related to combat, such as a spear ("戈") and a shield, symbolizing battle or warfare. The second character, "争", evolved from ancient scripts showing hands or claws grappling, representing contention or struggle. When joined, "战争" literally conveys the idea of "battle contention", where "战" emphasizes the physical act of fighting and "争" highlights the competitive strife, together creating a compound that comprehensively means "war" or "armed conflict". This formation relies on the semantic fusion of both characters to express a complex concept through their combined imagery.