The word 韩国 (Hánguó), meaning "South Korea", is formed by combining two characters: 韩 (Hán), which is the historical and ethnic name for Korea, derived from an ancient confederacy on the peninsula, and 国 (guó), meaning "country" or "nation". Together, they construct the meaning "the country of Han", directly identifying the nation through its traditional self-identifier within the Chinese language context.