The Chinese word 伊朗 (Yǐlǎng) for "Iran" is a phonetic translation formed through the process of transliteration, where characters are selected primarily for their sound rather than their meaning to approximate the pronunciation of the foreign name. It originates from the English name "Iran", with the characters 伊 (yī) and 朗 (lǎng) chosen because their combined pronunciation closely mimics "Ee-rahn". This is a standard method in Chinese for representing foreign proper nouns, where the individual meanings of the characters (伊 can mean "he" or "she", and 朗 means "bright" or "clear") are typically disregarded, serving solely as phonetic vessels to create a recognizable and fixed name for the country.