The word 删除 is formed through the logical combination of two characters, each contributing a specific nuance to the concept of "deletion". The first character, 删, originally depicted the act of scraping or cutting out characters from ancient bamboo writing slips, thus carrying the core meaning of "to cut out" or "edit out". It is paired with 除, which means "to remove", "eliminate", or "get rid of". Together, they create a compound where 删 denotes the selective or editorial act of marking something for removal, and 除 completes the action by emphasizing its final eradication or erasure, resulting in the comprehensive meaning "to delete".