The word "珊瑚" is formed by combining two characters, each containing the semantic component "玉" (jade), which indicates a hard, precious substance akin to coral. The character "珊" incorporates "冊" as a phonetic element suggesting its pronunciation, while "瑚" uses "胡" for its sound. Together, they create a disyllabic term for coral, with both characters contributing to the meaning through their shared semantic radical and to the pronunciation through their respective phonetic parts.