The Chinese word 埃及 (Āi jí) for "Egypt" is formed through a process of phonetic borrowing, where two existing characters are selected and combined solely for their sound to approximate the pronunciation of the foreign name. The characters 埃 (āi) and 及 (jí) were chosen not for their individual meanings (which are "dust" and "to reach", respectively), but because, when spoken together, their sounds closely mimic the English "Egypt" or its original local name. This is a standard method in Chinese for creating names for foreign countries and places.