The word "佛教" is formed by combining the character "佛", meaning Buddha, which uses the radical "人" (person) and the component "弗" primarily for phonetic value in transliterating "Buddha", with the character "教", meaning teaching or religion, which combines "孝" (filial piety) and "攵" (an action radical related to instruction). Together, they literally denote "Buddha's teachings" to refer to Buddhism.