The word 用户 (yònghù) is formed by the direct conceptual combination of its two component characters: 用, meaning "to use", and 户, which originally means "door" or "household" but here carries the extended sense of "unit" or "entity". By joining them, the term literally and logically conveys the idea of "a using entity" or "a unit that uses", which naturally and efficiently arrives at the modern meaning of "user".