The word 防晒霜 is formed by combining the characters 防 (fáng), meaning "to prevent or defend against", 晒 (shài), meaning "to sunbathe or expose to the sun", and 霜 (shuāng), meaning "cream or ointment". The characters 防 and 晒 first combine into the compound 防晒, which conveys the concept of shielding from sunlight, and then 霜 is appended to specify the product as a cream, resulting in a term that literally means "sun-prevention cream" or sunscreen.