The Chinese word **英亩** (yīngmǔ), meaning "acre," is a **phonetic-semantic compound** formed through a two-part process: the character **英** primarily serves as a **phonetic loan**, approximating the sound of the English unit "acre," while the character **亩** provides the **semantic component**, as it is an ancient Chinese unit of area measurement (roughly one-fifteenth of a hectare). Thus, the term essentially translates to "the *ying* (acre-sounding) version of a *mu* (land area unit)," creating a hybrid word that borrows the foreign concept's sound but roots it in a familiar native measurement category for clarity and adoption.