The word 耳光 (ěrguāng), meaning "a slap across the face", is a vivid compound formed through metaphorical imagery. It combines 耳 (ěr), meaning "ear", and 光 (guāng), meaning "light" or "brightness". The term does not describe the ear itself being illuminated, but rather evokes the sudden, flashing sensation, like a burst of light, that one experiences in the head or near the ear when struck sharply on the cheek. Thus, it is a perceptive, almost synesthetic construction where the physical impact is conceptualized as a sensory flash affecting the ear.