The word "犹太人" (Yóutàirén), meaning "Jewish people", is formed through a process of semantic translation and phonetic borrowing from Western terms. The first character, "犹" (Yóu), is the first syllable of the Chinese transliteration for "Judah" ("犹大", Yóuda). The second character, "太" (tài), is taken from the Chinese name for the Hebrew people ("希伯来", Xībólái), specifically from an older, alternative term ("泰", tài). Finally, the third character "人" (rén) simply means "person" or "people". Thus, the compound literally constructs the idea of "the people (人) connected to Judah (犹) and the Hebrews (太)".