component; constituent element
Technical term used in fields such as linguistics, computer science, and systems theory to refer to a constituent part of a larger structure.
In this theory, a sentence is broken down into several constituents.
It is necessary to clearly define the components of the system.
Compound of 構成 (kōsei, 'composition, structure') and 子 (shi, 'child, element'). The suffix 子 is used here in a technical sense to denote a constituent part, similar to its use in terms like 電子 (electron) or 分子 (molecule).