The word "陡崖" is formed by combining the character "陡", meaning steep, which incorporates the radical "阝" (derived from "阜", indicating terrain), with the character "崖", meaning cliff, which includes the radical "山" for mountain. In this compound, "陡" acts as a modifier describing the quality of "崖", resulting in the literal meaning "steep cliff". Each character contributes its core semantic meaning directly to the word's definition without phonetic or structural elaboration.