The Chinese word 讨好 (tǎohǎo) is a verb formed through the combination of two characters: 讨 (tǎo), which means "to seek", "to demand", or "to invite", and 好 (hǎo), which means "good", "favorable", or "goodwill". When compounded, the meaning becomes figurative and idiomatic, conveying the sense of "to curry favor with" or "to ingratiate oneself". The formation follows a common verb-object (or verb-complement) structure in Chinese, where the action (讨, seeking) is directed toward achieving a specific result (好, goodwill), thus creating the complete meaning of deliberately acting to please someone, often with an implication of flattery or self-interest.