The word 哥伦比亚 is formed through a process of phonetic adaptation, where Chinese characters are selected primarily for how closely their pronunciation approximates the sounds of the foreign name "Colombia". The characters 哥 (gē), 伦 (lún), 比 (bǐ), and 亚 (yà) are strung together to replicate the syllable flow of "Co-lo-m-bi-a", with the final character 亚 being a conventional Chinese transliteration suffix for the "-ia" ending found in many Latin and country names. The individual meanings of the characters are generally disregarded in this context, as the sole intent is to create a recognizable sonic counterpart to the original name within the constraints of the Chinese phonetic system.