The word 卡片 (kǎpiàn), meaning "card", is formed through a combination of phonetic borrowing and semantic description. The character 卡 (kǎ) is used primarily for its sound, approximating the first syllable of the English word "card". This is then combined with the character 片 (piàn), which means "a flat, thin piece" or "slice", to visually and conceptually describe the physical nature of the object. Thus, the word is built by imitating the foreign sound while attaching a native character that clearly indicates the item's form.