The Chinese word **趋势 (qūshì)**, meaning "trend" or "tendency," is a compound formed by combining two meaningful characters: **趋 (qū)**, which means "to hasten," "to tend toward," or "to move in a direction," and **势 (shì)**, which means "force," "power," "momentum," or "situation." Together, they create a metaphorical concept where **趋** provides the sense of directional movement or inclination, and **势** contributes the idea of an underlying force or prevailing circumstance, thus synthetically expressing the notion of "the general direction in which something is developing or changing," or the force of a prevailing tendency.