The Chinese word 调味 (tiáowèi), meaning "to season" or "to flavor", is a compound verb formed through a classic verb-object grammatical structure. It combines the character 调 (tiáo), which means "to adjust", "to blend", or "to mix", with the character 味 (wèi), which means "taste" or "flavor". Together, they create the literal and functional meaning "to adjust the flavor", where the first character acts upon the object denoted by the second. This formation exemplifies how many Chinese words logically combine two existing semantic units to produce a precise and intuitive new concept.