The Chinese word 诗歌 (shīgē), meaning "poetry" or "verse", is a compound word formed by combining two semantically related characters: 诗 (shī), which specifically denotes "poetry" as a structured, literary written form, and 歌 (gē), which originally means "song" or "lyrics meant to be sung". Together, they create a comprehensive term that encompasses the entire artistic domain of poetic expression, bridging the classical written tradition (诗) with the ancient, musical, and often folkloric oral tradition (歌). This formation follows a common pattern in Chinese lexicology known as coordinative compounding, where two elements of similar meaning are joined to express a broader, more generalized concept.