The word 男生 is formed by directly combining two meaningful characters: 男 (nán), which means "male", and 生 (shēng), which in this context carries the historical and conceptual meaning of "student" or "person in a learning role". It is a conceptual fusion where the first element specifies the gender and the second element specifies the general category of person, creating the composite idea of a "male student" or, more broadly, a "boy" in an academic or youthful context.