the term 'tug-of-war' is a transparent english compound dating from the late 17th century, directly describing the physical action it denotes. it is formed from 'tug' (from middle english toggen, meaning to pull or drag), the preposition 'of', and 'war' (from old english werre, meaning conflict or strife). the logic is vividly metaphorical: the game is literally a 'tug' (a pulling contest) that constitutes a 'war' (a struggle or conflict). this literal description of a physical contest was later extended in the 19th century to describe any intense struggle for supremacy between opposing forces, perfectly illustrating how a concrete, literal phrase can evolve into an abstract, figurative idiom.

this is a compound noun phrase formed from three separate english words. it is treated as a lexical unit and is not segmented into smaller morphemes based on the current spelling.