The Chinese word 佛罗里达州 (Fóluólídá zhōu) for the U.S. state of Florida is formed through a two-step process: first, the English name "Florida" is phonetically translated into the characters 佛罗里达 (Fóluólídá), which closely approximate its sound using syllables meaningful in Chinese but primarily chosen for their phonetic value; then, the suffix 州 (zhōu), meaning "state" or "administrative division," is appended to semantically categorize it as a state, following a common convention for translating foreign place names into Chinese where the sound is borrowed and a meaningful descriptor is added.