The idiom 喧宾夺主 is formed through a literal sequence of characters: 喧 (noisy) modifies 宾 (guest) to create the subject "noisy guest", and 夺 (seize) acts upon 主 (host) to form the action "seizes the host's role". This direct combination portrays a concrete scenario where the guest's disruptive behavior overrides the host's position, mechanically building the meaning from the individual character definitions without metaphorical elaboration.