The Chinese word 堤拉米苏 is formed through phonetic transliteration, where each character is selected solely to mimic the sound of the corresponding syllable in the Italian word "tiramisu": 堤 (dī) approximates "ti", 拉 (lā) approximates "ra", 米 (mǐ) approximates "mi", and 苏 (sū) approximates "su".