The word **署名 (shǔmíng)**, meaning "to sign one's name" or "signature," is a compound formed through a straightforward semantic combination of its two constituent characters: **署 (shǔ)**, which originally means "a government office" or "to arrange," but here carries the extended meaning of "to put down in writing" or "to affix," and **名 (míng)**, which means "name." Together, they logically combine the action of placing or writing (**署**) with the object being written, one's **名 (name)**, to create the specific meaning of the act of signing. This formation is typical of modern Chinese vocabulary, where two existing morphemes are joined to precisely express a more complex, yet intuitively clear, concept.