The Chinese word 香味 (xiāngwèi), meaning "fragrance" or "aroma", is a typical compound word formed by combining two meaningful characters: 香 (xiāng), which means "fragrant" or "aromatic", and 味 (wèi), which means "taste" or "smell". This structure follows a common pattern in Mandarin where two semantically related characters are joined to create a more specific concept, in this case, 香 describes the quality of the scent, and 味 specifies the category of sensation (smell or flavor), together precisely denoting a pleasant smell, often from food, flowers, or spices.