The word "鸠山" is formed by combining the character "鸠", meaning turtle-dove or pigeon, which itself is a pictophonetic character composed of the radical "鸟" (bird) and the phonetic component "九", with the character "山", meaning mountain, a pictographic character. Together, they create a compound word that functions as a proper name, often for a surname or place, literally conveying the concept of a "dove mountain".