The Chinese word "肯塔基" (Kěntǎjī) is a direct phonetic translation, or transliteration, of the English name "Kentucky." It is formed by selecting three Chinese characters whose modern Mandarin pronunciations closely approximate the sounds of the English syllables: "肯" (kěn) for "Ken," "塔" (tǎ) for "tuc," and "基" (jī) for "ky." The characters were chosen primarily for their sound, not their literal meanings (which are "agree/to be willing," "pagoda/tower," and "base/foundation," respectively), following the standard convention for rendering foreign proper nouns in Chinese.