九
jiǔ · HSK 1
nine
jiǔ sounds like 'Joe' — Joe is number nine on the team
九 is the digit nine. The pronunciation jiǔ rhymes with English 'Joe' or 'jo'. It's also a homophone of 久 (jiǔ, 'long-lasting'), which is why nine carries lucky/eternal connotations in Chinese culture.
九 — single stroke; bent hook form
九 originally pictured a bent arm or elbow, drawn as a curved hooked line. It was borrowed phonetically to write the number 'nine' because the words sounded alike, and that numeric meaning eventually replaced the original.