The word 芭蕾舞 is formed through a process of phonetic borrowing and semantic clarification: the first two characters, 芭蕾, directly transcribe the sound of the French word "ballet", while the final character, 舞, meaning "dance", is added to explicitly categorize and define the borrowed term, creating a hybrid compound where the sound of a foreign word is fused with a native descriptive element to point clearly to the specific art form.