The Chinese word "突厥" is formed as a phonetic transliteration of the Old Turkic term "Türküt", with the character "突" (tū) chosen for its initial sound and "厥" (jué) for its final sound, approximating the foreign pronunciation. Individually, "突" is composed of the semantic radical "穴" (cave) and the component "犬" (dog), while "厥" consists of the semantic radical "厂" (cliff) and the phonetic component "欮", but in this context, their meanings are disregarded as the characters serve solely to represent sounds.