The word 战斗 is formed by combining two individual characters, each with a closely related meaning, to create a single, more forceful concept. The first character, 战 (zhàn), primarily means "war" or "to fight", while the second, 斗 (dòu), means "to combat" or "to struggle". They are placed side-by-side in a parallel structure where each reinforces the other, merging their semantic fields to collectively express the intense and active notion of "battle" or "to fight". This formation visually and conceptually doubles down on the idea of armed conflict or strenuous struggle.