The Chinese word "保罗" is formed through a process of phonetic translation, specifically designed to approximate the sound of the foreign name "Paul". The characters "保" (bǎo) and "罗" (luó) are selected not for their individual meanings ("protect" and "gauze/net" respectively), but because their combined pronunciation closely mimics the original name. This is a standard method in Chinese for adopting foreign proper nouns, where the primary goal is auditory resemblance, often with a secondary consideration of using characters that have neutral or positive connotations.