The word "狐狸" is formed through the combination of two distinct characters, each contributing to the overall meaning. "狐" itself denotes a fox, while "狸" historically referred to a wild feline or raccoon dog, but in this compound, it serves to specify and reinforce the animal type. This pairing follows a common pattern in Chinese where two semantically related characters are joined to create a more precise or nuanced term for a creature, resulting in a fixed binome that exclusively means "fox". Over time, the combination became standardized in usage, reflecting how Chinese often forms words by merging meaningful components to convey specific concepts.