The Chinese word "汉堡" (hànbǎo) for "hamburger" is formed through a direct and clever adaptation process. The first character, "汉" (hàn), is chosen primarily for its sound to transliterate the "Ham-" syllable from the English word. The second character, "堡" (bǎo), which originally means "fort" or "castle", is used because it is the common shorthand in Chinese for "burger", as seen in the word for hamburger sandwich, "汉堡包" (hànbǎobāo, where "包" means bun). Thus, the compound visually and phonetically suggests a "Han-fort", but is understood as a complete, meaningful unit representing the imported food item by combining approximate sound with an associated conceptual meaning.