The Chinese word 手稿 (shǒugǎo), meaning "manuscript" or "handwritten draft", is a compound formed by combining two meaningful characters: 手 (shǒu), meaning "hand", and 稿 (gǎo), meaning "draft" or "sketch". It follows a common modifier-head structure in Chinese word formation, where the first element 手 specifies the method or tool, in this case, indicating the work is created by hand, and the second element 稿 denotes the core concept, which is the draft or document itself. Thus, the compound directly and logically conveys the idea of a "hand-produced draft", distinguishing it from a typed or printed document and reflecting its original, authentic nature.