乒乓球
pīng pāng qiú · HSK 7
tennis
🏓 乒乓 = the ping-pong sound itself, + 球 ball; 乒 and 乓 are mirror twins, paddles facing off
乒 (pīng) and 乓 (pāng) are onomatopoeia for the back-and-forth knock of the ball. Both come from 兵 (soldier) with one leg lopped off opposite sides, so they sit as left-right mirrors like two paddles. 球 (qiú) means ball.
球 — jade radical 玉/王 + qiu 求 (phonetic)
球 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 王 is the 'jade' radical, indicating the original meaning: a fine piece of jade or a jade ornament. The right side 求 supplies the sound 'qiu'. Over time the meaning broadened from a jade sphere to any round object, and today it most commonly means 'ball' or 'globe'.