The word "桎梏" is formed by combining two characters, each constructed as a phono-semantic compound. "桎" consists of the radical 木 (wood) indicating the material, and the phonetic component 至 (zhì) indicating pronunciation. "梏" similarly uses 木 (wood) as the radical for material, and 告 (gào) as the phonetic component. Together, they form a word meaning shackles, reflecting their shared semantic field of wooden restraints.