The word "山峦" is formed by combining the character "山" (shān), meaning "mountain", with "峦" (luán), which denotes "connected peaks" or "mountain range". The character "峦" itself incorporates "山" as a radical to signify its semantic category related to mountains, while the component "亦" may serve a phonetic function. Together, these characters create a compound where "山" emphasizes the general concept of mountains and "峦" specifies the idea of a continuous, rolling range, resulting in the meaning "mountain range".