The word "肖恩" is formed through a purely phonetic process of transliteration, specifically for representing foreign names in Chinese. It is created by selecting two existing Chinese characters, "肖" (Xiào) and "恩" (Ēn), whose combined pronunciation closely approximates the sound of the English name "Sean". The individual meanings of the characters are irrelevant and disregarded; they function solely as sound symbols strung together to mimic the foreign pronunciation within the constraints of the Chinese phonetic system.