The Chinese word 精华 (jīnghuá), meaning "essence" or "quintessence," is a compound formed through semantic combination, where two meaningful characters, each with their own definitions, unite to create a new, nuanced concept. The first character, 精 (jīng), originally refers to "refined rice" and by extension signifies "essence," "refined," or "spirit." The second character, 华 (huá), conveys notions of "splendor," "magnificence," or "flower." When combined, 精华 metaphorically expresses the idea of the "most refined and splendid part" of something, capturing the core excellence or most valuable extract, much like the choice flour from grain or the bloom of a plant. This formation is typical in Chinese, where two semantically related morphemes are joined to produce an abstract, compounded meaning greater than the sum of its parts.