The Chinese word **密尔沃基** (Mì'ěrwòjī) is a **phonetic transliteration** formed to approximate the sound of the English place name "Milwaukee." Each character is chosen primarily for its Mandarin pronunciation, not its meaning, creating a syllabic match: 密 (mì) for "Mil," 尔 (ěr) for "wau" (rendering the "l" sound), 沃 (wò) for "kee," and 基 (jī) to complete the final syllable sound. This follows the standard Chinese practice for transcribing foreign proper nouns, where a series of characters with neutral or positive connotations are assembled to replicate the original name's auditory profile as closely as possible within the constraints of Mandarin's phonetic system.