The word 伊丽莎白 is formed through a process of phonetic transliteration, specifically by selecting Chinese characters whose pronunciations closely approximate the sounds of the English name "Elizabeth". Each character, 伊 (yī), 丽 (lì), 莎 (shā), and 白 (bái), is chosen not for its meaning, but for its syllable sound, to mimic the original foreign name as a whole. The result is a coined term that exists solely to represent that specific foreign entity within the Chinese language.