The word 职业 is formed by combining two characters, each contributing a core meaning to create a new, unified concept. The first character, 职 (zhí), carries the idea of duty, office, or position. The second, 业 (yè), conveys the notion of work, business, or enterprise. Their combination is not merely additive but synthetic, merging to express the comprehensive idea of one's regular occupation or profession, the specific kind of work that defines one's role and livelihood. It reflects a conceptual blend where "positional duty" and "productive work" fuse into a single term for vocation.