The Chinese word "乌克兰" (Wūkèlán) for "Ukraine" is a direct phonetic transcription formed through a process called transliteration, where characters are chosen primarily for their sound rather than their meaning. It breaks the English name "Ukraine" into three approximating syllables: "乌" (wū) for "U-", "克" (kè) for "-krai-", and "兰" (lán) for the final "-ne" sound, resulting in a standard, phonetically derived proper noun in Mandarin.