The word 磨蹭 is formed through a common Chinese morphological process called reduplication of near-synonyms, where two separate characters with closely related meanings are combined to create a single, more expressive term. The character 磨 (mó) originally means "to grind" or "to wear down", implying a slow, dragging action, while 蹭 (cèng) means "to rub against" or "to move slowly and lightly". When paired, their individual connotations of slow, inefficient, and lingering physical movement blend together and extend metaphorically to describe the abstract behavior of dawdling, procrastination, or moving/acting with irritating slowness. The resulting disyllabic word gains a vivid, colloquial force that neither character possesses alone, perfectly capturing the nuanced frustration of someone wasting time through sluggish action.