The word 抑或 (yì huò) is a classical Chinese disjunctive conjunction meaning "or," used to present alternatives in a formal or literary context. It is formed by combining two characters with overlapping meanings: 抑 (yì), which originally means "to suppress" or "to doubt," evolved in classical grammar to function as a conjunction meaning "or" or "rather," and 或 (huò), which means "perhaps," "maybe," or "some." Together, they create a reinforced double-character structure common in literary Chinese, where 抑 and 或 essentially synonymously stack to form a single, elegant term for presenting a choice between two possibilities, as in "either A 抑或 B." Its formation is thus an example of lexical compounding from classical syntax that has been preserved in modern written language.