反击
fǎn jī · HSK 7
to strike back
🤺 反 (reverse) + 击 (strike) = strike back
反 means to flip or reverse, 击 means to hit or strike. Together they literally mean a reversed strike — a counterattack. The fǎn sounds like fan, as in fanning away an attack before striking back.
反 — hand 又 under cliff 厂
Originally a pictograph of a hand (又) turning something over against a cliff or slope (厂), depicting the action of flipping or reversing. From this came the core meaning 'to turn over,' which extended to 'opposite,' 'contrary,' and 'rebel against.' The character is purely semantic, with no phonetic component.