What is the nfd() function really doing?

[Das Goravani]

What does the nfd() function do in plain common English please?

The online help says:

Carries out the canonical decomposition of the string and returns the normalized string.

What does that mean, I guess I’m locking up on the term "canonical decomposition"

I tried looking it up and found that nfd() is a method of decomposing text characters into their base parts but I don’t understand.

I’m finding this function used in the IMAP Worker Object Demo by Omnis. They apply nfd() to Mailbox names.

I think mailbox names are really set, small, already "decomposed" as far as I can tell. Names like

Inbox, Drafts, Trash, Sent items, Spam

Couldn’t get much smaller or different, so I don’t understand

The term is heavily used in Algebra, and is mathematical

Any help appreciated.

Das Goravani