The word **哑巴 (yǎba)**, meaning "a mute person," is a compound formed through the combination of the meaningful root **哑 (yǎ)**, which means "mute" or "hoarse," and the suffix **巴 (ba)**, which historically functions as a nominalizing and sometimes diminutive particle that attaches to adjectives or verbs to form nouns, often referring to people with a particular characteristic or trait. In this case, 哑 provides the core semantic meaning of being unable to speak, while 巴 grammatically transforms it into a noun identifying a person who possesses that attribute, following a common pattern in Chinese for terms like 结巴 (jiēba, stammerer) or 尾巴 (wěiba, tail).