The word 高中 is formed through a conceptual combination of its two constituent characters, where 高 (gāo), meaning "high", and 中 (zhōng), meaning "middle", are merged not literally but within the specific context of an educational ladder. It designates the stage of schooling that is the "middle" level but also "higher" than the preceding junior middle school (初中), creating a condensed term for "high-level middle school", or senior secondary school. The formation is essentially a spatial metaphor, using relative positional concepts to indicate its elevated place in the sequence of education.