The Chinese word "靴子" for "boots" is formed by combining the character "靴", which is a pictophonetic character constructed from the semantic radical "革" meaning leather, indicating the material traditionally used for boots, and a phonetic component historically derived from characters like "化" or "华" to approximate its pronunciation, with the suffix "子" commonly added to nouns for concrete objects, resulting in a compound that visually and conceptually encapsulates the idea of leather footwear.