The Chinese word 卡扎菲 is formed through the phonetic transliteration of the name "Gaddafi", with each character representing a syllable from the original name: 卡 (kǎ) approximates "Ga", 扎 (zhā) approximates "zza" or "dha", and 菲 (fēi) approximates "fi", using characters chosen solely for their sound without regard to meaning.