The word "青花瓷" is formed by sequentially combining three characters: 青 (qīng), meaning "blue", which specifies the color; 花 (huā), meaning "flower" or "pattern", which denotes the decorative motif; and 瓷 (cí), meaning "porcelain", which identifies the material. The compound directly describes a specific artifact, blue-patterned porcelain, where 青 modifies 花 to create "blue patterns", and this phrase modifies 瓷 to specify the object as porcelain with such designs.