The word "饥荒" is formed by combining the character "饥", meaning hunger, which uses the food radical "饣" and the phonetic component "几", with the character "荒", meaning desolate or waste, which uses the grass radical "艹" and the component "巟"; together they create a compound meaning famine, where "饥" denotes hunger and "荒" emphasizes scarcity and devastation.