The Chinese word 威尼斯 (Wēinísī) is formed through a process of phonetic translation, where three existing Chinese characters are selected purely for how their sounds approximate the syllables of the foreign place name "Venice". The characters 威 (wēi), 尼 (ní), and 斯 (sī) carry their own individual meanings (like "power", "nun/Buddhist", and "this", respectively), but those meanings are entirely disregarded here; their sole function is to replicate the sound of the original name, creating a recognizable auditory label for the Italian city within the Chinese language.