The character 灰色 (huīsè, meaning "gray") is formed by combining two individual characters: 灰, which originally depicted ashes or dust (visually suggesting burnt residue, derived from components representing "cliff" and "fire"), and 色, which means "color". Together, they create a compound that literally means "ash color", where the first character provides the concrete substance (ash) whose hue defines the color, and the second character categorizes it as a shade, forming the concept of the color gray through this direct descriptive relationship.