The word "玛瑙" is formed by combining the two characters "玛" and "瑙", both of which contain the "玉" radical on the left side, indicating a relation to jade or precious stones. The character "玛" incorporates "马" primarily for its phonetic value, while "瑙" uses its right component for similar phonetic purposes. Together, they create a disyllabic term specifically referring to the gemstone agate, with the radicals reinforcing the semantic category and the characters functioning as a fixed pair in modern Chinese.