The word 顽固 (wángù) is formed through a direct and powerful conceptual combination of its two component characters. The first character, 顽, carries the inherent idea of being hard, stubborn, or obstinate, like a dense, unyielding rock. The second, 固, means solid, firm, or rigid. When placed together, they do not merely add their meanings but fuse them into a single, intensified image: the quality of being as solid and immovable as stone in one's thinking or attitude, creating the concept of ingrained stubbornness or inflexibility.