The Chinese word **艾滋 (Àizī)** for "AIDS" is a **phonetic loan translation**, formed by selecting two characters whose combined pronunciation approximates the sound of the English acronym "AIDS" (specifically the "A-i" and "ds/z" sounds). Unlike many Chinese compounds, the characters 艾 (ài, literally "mugwort") and 滋 (zī, literally "nourish" or "multiply") are used purely for their sound and do not carry their original meanings in this context. This is a standard method in Modern Chinese for importing foreign terms, especially scientific and medical names, where the primary goal is to replicate the original pronunciation while using common, inoffensive characters.