The word "迈克尔" is formed through a process of phonetic transliteration, specifically designed to approximate the sounds of the foreign name "Michael" using Chinese characters. Each character is chosen not for its meaning, but for how closely its pronunciation in Mandarin (Mài kè ěr) mimics the syllables of the original English name. This is a standard method for adopting foreign names and terms into Chinese, where the written characters serve primarily as phonetic symbols to bridge the sound gap between the languages.