莎丽

莎丽 is a phonetic loan from Hindi साड़ी (sārī) via English 'sari' — a single 5-9 metre length of fabric draped around the body. The transliteration uses 莎 (a kind of grass; common phonetic 'sa-') and 丽 (beautiful), so the Chinese characters happen to read 'beautiful'. Mainland sources also write 纱丽 (with 纱 'gauze') to evoke the lightweight cloth — same pronunciation, different visual flavor.

莎丽 (Shālì) is also a common transliteration for Western female names like Shari, Sally, or Sarah, especially in older Taiwan film subtitles. Disambiguate by context: if the topic is fashion/India, it's the garment; if a person, it's the name.