拍戏
pāi xì · HSK 7
to shoot a movie
🎬 拍戏 = 拍 (shoot/film) + 戏 (drama, play) = film a stage drama on camera
拍 means to shoot or film (the same 拍 as snapping a photo); 戏 is a play or drama. Together they mean acting for the camera — shooting a movie or TV scene.
拍 — hand radical 扌 + white 白
A semantic-phonetic compound: the hand radical 扌 gives the meaning (an action done with the hand, namely clapping or striking), while 白 (bái) supplies the phonetic clue for pāi. The original sense was to slap or pat with the open hand, later extending to beat (as in musical rhythm) and to take a photograph.
戏 — 戈 spear + 虚-variant 虍/seat (left)
Originally written 戲, combining a left element depicting a ceremonial vessel or tiger-headed seat with 戈 (spear/halberd) on the right, suggesting armed performance or mock combat. It came to mean 'play, drama, theatrical performance.' The modern simplified form 戏 keeps 戈 and replaces the complex left side with 又 (hand).