The Chinese word "加尔各答" is formed through phonetic transliteration, where each character is selected solely to approximate the sounds of the English name "Calcutta": 加 (jiā) for "Cal", 尔 (ěr) for "cut", 各 (gè) for the "ta" syllable, and 答 (dá) for the final sound, resulting in a sequence that mimics the original pronunciation without conveying semantic meaning.