The Chinese word 生育 (shēngyù) is a compound formed by combining two semantically related characters: 生, which primarily means "to give birth" or "to be born", and 育, which means "to nurture" or "to rear". Together, they create a term that encompasses the entire process of biological reproduction and early upbringing, moving from the act of childbirth itself (生) to the subsequent raising and care of the child (育). This formation follows a common pattern in Chinese where two characters with connected meanings are joined to express a broader, more complete concept, in this case, the holistic idea of "bearing and raising children".