The Chinese word for firefly, **萤火虫 (yínghuǒchóng)**, is a semantically transparent compound formed by combining three meaningful characters: **萤 (yíng)**, which historically and specifically refers to the firefly itself; **火 (huǒ)**, meaning "fire"; and **虫 (chóng)**, meaning "insect" or "creature." Thus, the term is constructed logically as "fire-insect" or more precisely "the glowing-fire insect," where 火 vividly describes its characteristic bioluminescent light, 虫 classifies it as a bug, and the initial 萤 acts as a specific root that anchors the compound to this particular insect, creating a highly descriptive and visually evocative term.