拍板
pāi bǎn · HSK 7
clapper-board
👏 拍 pāi = clap/strike + 板 bǎn = board/plank; the board you strike to keep time or call a sale
拍 means clap or strike, 板 means a flat board or plank. Together: the wooden clapper-board an auctioneer strikes, or the boards a musician beats to mark the rhythm. The act of striking the board also means to make a final decision.
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.
板 — wood radical 木 + 反 (fǎn, phonetic)
板 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 木 'wood' radical signals the meaning — a flat piece of wood, i.e. a board or plank. The right side 反 supplies the sound, historically close to 'bǎn/pàn'. Over time it extended to mean any flat panel, and figuratively 'stiff' or 'inflexible'.