The Chinese word 海狸 (hǎilí) for "beaver" is a compound noun formed through semantic combination: the character 海 (hǎi) means "sea" or "ocean", and 狸 (lí) historically refers to a wild cat or fox-like animal. Together, the term literally suggests a "sea fox" or "ocean raccoon", which is a descriptive, folk-taxonomic name likely originating from observations of the beaver’s aquatic habitat and its furry, mammal appearance, rather than a direct literal translation of the animal's biological traits.