The Chinese idiom 香消玉殒 is formed from two parallel metaphorical compounds: 香消, where 香 (fragrance) symbolizes beauty and 消 means to disappear, and 玉殒, where 玉 (jade) symbolizes purity and 殒 means to perish. The combination uses these symbols to depict the death of a beautiful woman, with each pair consisting of a noun representing an attribute and a verb indicating its loss.