The word 自称 is formed by directly combining two conceptual building blocks: the character 自, which pictographically represents the nose and carries the ancient idea of "self" or "oneself", with the character 称, whose core meaning is "to call" or "to name". Their union creates a simple, intuitive visual and conceptual phrase, the act of "self-calling", where the first character defines the actor and the second defines the action, seamlessly merging to convey the notion of declaring or labeling oneself as something.