The word 米奇 is formed through a process of phonetic borrowing and cultural adaptation to represent the name "Mickey", specifically for Mickey Mouse. The two characters 米 (mǐ) and 奇 (qí) were chosen primarily because their combined pronunciation closely approximates the English sound "Mickey". While the individual characters carry their own meanings (米 meaning "rice" and 奇 meaning "strange" or "wonderful"), in this compound, those literal meanings are largely disregarded; the formation is driven almost entirely by sound mimicry to create a recognizable and marketable Chinese name for the iconic character.