The Chinese word 闹钟 (nàozhōng), meaning "alarm clock", is a transparent compound noun formed by combining the character 闹 (nào), which means "noisy", "lively", or "to make a noise", with the character 钟 (zhōng), which means "clock" or "timepiece". This formation is logical and descriptive, as the primary function of an alarm clock is literally to be a "noise-making clock", where the 闹 component directly indicates its auditory alert mechanism and the 钟 component denotes its general category as a time-telling device.