The word 男子 is formed by combining two individual characters, each contributing its core meaning to create a new, unified concept. The first character, 男, pictographically represents "male" or "man" (originally depicting a field 田 and strength 力). The second character, 子, primarily means "child" or "offspring" but frequently functions as a nominal suffix that can formalize or generalize a term. When placed together, 子 attaches to 男, not to imply "male child", but to solidify and substantiate the notion into a more formal, classical, or literary single-unit noun meaning "a man" or "male person".