The word 最后 is formed by combining two conceptual elements: the character 最, meaning "most" or "utmost", which acts as a superlative intensifier, with the character 后, meaning "behind" or "after", which denotes a positional or sequential concept. Their fusion creates a single idea that takes the notion of being "after" or "behind" and pushes it to its extreme limit, thus conceptually arriving at "the utmost point that comes after all others", or simply, "the end" or "the last".