The Chinese word **伊斯兰 (Yīsīlán)** is a phonetic transliteration formed through the common practice of borrowing sounds from a foreign language to represent a concept without indigenous equivalent. It directly mimics the pronunciation of the Arabic term "**Islam**," using carefully selected Chinese characters that approximate the original sounds—**伊 (yī)**, **斯 (sī)**, and **兰 (lán)**—while typically carrying neutral or slightly positive connotations (like "orchid" for 兰), but whose primary function is phonetic rather than semantic.