Why did Derrida say that meaning is endlessly deferred?

Jacques Derrida argued that meaning is endlessly deferred because linguistic meaning is not fixed by an original idea or intention, but is instead created through the "play" of differences between words.12

Building on the work of Ferdinand de Saussure, Derrida observed that the meaning of any word is determined by its contrasts with other, related words. Because those related words also derive their meaning from further contrasts in an infinite chain, a word’s meaning is never fully "present" or stable.12

To describe this process, Derrida coined the term différance, which encompasses both the concept of difference and the act of deferring. This implies that meaning is never static; it is always pushed forward, or deferred, through an infinitely long chain of signifiers, each containing "traces" of the meanings upon which it depends. Consequently, deconstruction asserts that meaning is inherently unstable and impossible to fix precisely, as it is inextricably bound to the limitless play of language.1234