The word 武夷山 is formed by combining three characters: 武 (wǔ), which in this context is part of a historical name; 夷 (yí), which together with 武 forms the proper name "Wuyi", likely originating from ancient tribal or legendary references; and 山 (shān), meaning "mountain", which categorizes it as a physical geographical feature, resulting in a term that specifically denotes the mountain known by that name.