The word 眨眼 (zhǎyǎn) is formed by directly combining two characters to create a vivid, pictorial meaning: 眨 means "to blink" or "to wink", depicting the action of the eyelid, and 眼 means "eye". Together, they visually and conceptually merge to represent the simple, instantaneous action of an eye closing and opening, the character for the action is placed directly before the character for the object performing it, creating an immediate mental image of "the eye blinking".