The word 爬行 is formed by combining the character 爬, which means to crawl and is composed of the radical 爪 (claw) indicating hand-based movement and the phonetic component 巴, with the character 行, meaning to move or walk, originally a pictograph of a crossroad symbolizing travel. In this compound, 爬 specifies the crawling manner and 行 conveys the action of motion, together producing the meaning "to crawl".