排练
pái liàn · HSK 7
to rehearse
🎭 排练 = 排 arrange/line-up + 练 practice/drill: arrange the practice = rehearse
排 means to arrange or line up; 练 means to practice or drill. A rehearsal is exactly that: arranging the cast and drilling the run-through before the real show. The pinyin pái liàn echoes pie-lian.
排 — hand radical 扌 + 非 (fēi, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: the hand radical 扌 gives the meaning (an action done with the hands), while 非 supplies the sound. The original sense was to push or shove aside with the hand, which extended to arranging things in a row, hence modern meanings like 'to arrange,' 'a row,' or 'to reject.'
练 — silk radical 纟 + 柬 (select)
练 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The silk radical 纟 gives the meaning, originally referring to boiling raw silk to soften and whiten it. 柬 (jiǎn, 'to select') supplies the sound. From the idea of repeatedly processing silk, the meaning extended to 'practice, train, drill'.