The word 蚩尤 is formed by combining the character 蚩, which is structurally composed of the radical 虫 (meaning insect) placed over the component 㞢 (historically representing grass or a growth), and the character 尤, which originates from a pictographic depiction of a hand with an extra digit to denote peculiarity. These two characters are used together solely as a proper name for a specific mythological figure, with the combination fixed through ancient Chinese historical and textual tradition.