The word 荒谬 is formed by combining two characters, each contributing a layer of meaning to create a single, intensified concept. The first character, 荒 (huāng), originally refers to barren, uncultivated land, and by extension evokes a sense of wildness, unreasonableness, or being beyond the bounds of proper order. The second character, 谬 (miù), means false, erroneous, or contrary to logic. When fused, 荒谬 does not merely mean "false"; it conjures an image where an idea is so wildly irrational and detached from reason that it is as barren and inhospitable to truth as a wasteland is to life, thus capturing the essence of "absurdity" or "preposterousness".