The word "胡言" is formed by combining the character "胡", which historically referred to northern or western ethnic groups and later extended to mean "reckless" or "nonsensical", with the character "言", meaning "speech" or "words". Together, they create a compound that literally translates to "Hu speech" but idiomatically signifies "nonsensical talk", originating from the perception of foreign languages as unintelligible and thus irrational.