The Chinese word "竖起" is formed as a verb-resultative compound, where the first character "竖" (shù) means "vertical" or "to stand something upright," acting as the primary action, and the second character "起" (qǐ) means "to rise" or "upward," serving as a directional or resultative complement that indicates the successful completion or direction of the action. Therefore, combined, "竖起" literally means "to stand up vertically" or "to erect," conveying the idea of causing something to be in an upright position, as in "竖起大拇指" (to give a thumbs-up). This structure is typical in Chinese for creating precise verbs that describe both an action and its outcome.