The Chinese word "萨克斯" (sàkèsī) for "saxophone" is a phonetic loanword formed through transliteration, where the characters were chosen primarily for their sound rather than meaning. It approximates the first syllable of "Sax", from the inventor Adolphe Sax, using "萨" (sà) for the "sa" sound and "克斯" (kèsī) to mimic the "ks" ending, with the final "ī" sound often serving as a common phonetic filler in such borrowings. This follows a standard pattern in Chinese for adopting foreign nouns, especially musical instruments, resulting in a term that is phonetically recognizable while conforming to the language's syllabic structure.