The word "大连" is formed from the characters "大" (dà), meaning "big", and "连" (lián), meaning "connect", but its construction is primarily phonetic rather than semantic. It originated as a transliteration of the Russian name "Дальний" (Dalniy), meaning "distant", used for the bay during the Russian lease of the Liaodong Peninsula in the late 19th century. The characters were chosen to approximate the sound of "Dalniy", resulting in the modern name for the city.