The word "卡哇依" is formed as a phonetic transcription of the Japanese word "kawaii" (meaning cute) into Chinese characters, where each character is chosen solely for its sound: "卡" (kǎ) approximates "ka", "哇" (wā) approximates "wai", and "依" (yī) approximates "i", creating a loanword that replicates the pronunciation of the original term.