[Naming in Chinese] McDonald's, 'food for labor'

The Chinese name for McDonald's, the American fast-food burger chain is "麦 当 劳" (pronounced Mai-Dang-Lau).

The meaning of the first character "麦" ('Mai') is "wheat".

The meaning of the third character "劳" ('Lau') is "labor".

The meaning of the second character "当" ('Dang') has a temporal meaning, which in the context of these three characters, implies "bread one earns from labor".

Bread in this context connotes both 1) "sustenance", and 2) a prominent feature of hamburger sandwiches - McDonald's restaurants' main food offering.

McDonald's designs its food to cater to the mass market "working class".

Thus "麦 当 劳" both 1) is phonetically similar to the English "McDonald's", and 2) connotes "food for the working class" - the restaurant chain's principal target market.