The Chinese word 维生素 (wéishēngsù) for "vitamin" is a semantic loan translation formed in the early 20th century. It directly corresponds to the original term "vitamine" (later "vitamin"), combining the characters 维 (wéi, meaning "to maintain"), 生 (shēng, meaning "life"), and 素 (sù, meaning "essential element" or "substance"). Thus, the compound literally means "a substance essential for maintaining life", efficiently capturing both the sound and core function of the Western scientific concept through descriptive translation.