The Chinese word 素食 is a compound formed by combining two meaningful characters: 素, which originally means "plain", "simple", or "white", and by extension has come to signify "vegetarian" or "plant-based", with 食, which means "food" or "to eat". Together, they create a term that literally means "plain food" or, more specifically, "vegetarian food" or a "vegetarian diet", where the first element describes the nature (plant-based, non-meat) of the second element (food/eating).