The word 科学 (kēxué), meaning "science", is formed through a logical and meaningful combination of two existing characters. The first character, 科 (kē), originally conveyed the idea of "category" or "branch of study", while the second, 学 (xué), means "learning" or "knowledge". When joined, they create a compound that conceptually represents "the learning/knowledge of categorized branches" or "systematized knowledge", which is the core idea behind the modern concept of science.