The Chinese term 加勒比 (Jiālèbǐ) is a phonetic loanword, formed through a process of transliteration where characters are selected primarily for their sound rather than their meaning to approximate the pronunciation of the foreign word "Caribbean". Each character corresponds to a syllable: 加 (jiā) for "Ca", 勒 (lè) for "ri", and 比 (bǐ) for "bbean", collectively creating a close auditory match. While the individual characters carry meanings like "add", "rein in", and "compare", these meanings are disregarded in this context, with the compound functioning purely as a sound-based label for the geographical and cultural region.