The word 罐子 is formed through a common morphological process in Chinese where the core, meaningful character 罐 (guàn), which means "jar" or "pot", is combined with the suffix 子 (zi). This suffix 子 often attaches to nouns, not to change the core meaning but to create a more colloquial, standalone, and often more concrete or diminutive form of the root word. Thus, 罐子 essentially means "the jar-thing", where 罐 provides the substantive meaning and 子 completes it as a familiar, everyday noun.