The Chinese word 管辖 (guǎnxiá, meaning "to have jurisdiction over; to administer") is a compound formed through the complementary pairing of two semantically related characters. The first character, 管 (guǎn), originally meaning "a tube" or "to manage", carries the sense of exercising authority and control. The second character, 辖 (xiá), originally referred to the linchpin that secured the wheel to the axle in ancient chariots, thus extending metaphorically to mean "to restrain" or "to have under one's authority". When combined, the two characters create a cohesive concept where 管 emphasizes active governance and management, while 辖 reinforces the idea of holding within fixed boundaries or under control. The compound thus metaphorically equates administration to both steering (managing) and securing (restraining) a domain, perfectly encapsulating the meaning of jurisdictional authority.