The word 海边 is formed by directly combining two meaningful characters: 海 (hǎi), meaning "sea" or "ocean", and 边 (biān), meaning "edge", "side", or "border". Their conceptual meanings are placed together to create a new, composite idea, specifically, the place or space where the sea and land meet. It visually and notionally denotes the "seaside" or "coast" by merging the image of the vast sea with the limiting concept of its periphery.