The word "诤言" is formed by combining the character "诤", which itself is a phono-semantic compound consisting of the semantic component "讠" (derived from "言", meaning speech) and the phonetic component "争" (indicating pronunciation), with the character "言" meaning speech or words. Together, "诤" conveys the idea of frank admonition or criticism, and "言" specifies that this is expressed verbally, resulting in a compound word meaning straightforward or honest advice.