The word 椰奶 is formed by combining the character 椰 (yē), meaning "coconut", with the character 奶 (nǎi), meaning "milk". The first character 椰 specifies the source or type, modifying the second character 奶 to create a compound noun that directly refers to the substance "coconut milk". This formation relies on the literal meanings of each character to denote a specific kind of milk derived from coconuts.