The term 黑洞 is formed through a direct, conceptually descriptive combination of its two characters: 黑 (hēi), meaning "black", and 洞 (dòng), meaning "hole" or "cavity". It is a modern scientific coinage that literally translates the English astronomical term "black hole", visually evoking the core idea of an infinitely dark, gravitational void in space from which not even light can escape.