The word "生蚝" is formed by combining the character "生", meaning "raw" or "live", with "蚝", meaning "oyster". The character "蚝" is constructed from the semantic component "虫", indicating a creature, and the phonetic component "毛", which approximates its pronunciation. In this compound, "生" modifies "蚝" to specify the oyster as being in a raw or fresh state, directly resulting in the meaning "raw oyster".