球拍
qiú pāi · HSK 6
racket
🏸 ball + slap — a racket slaps the ball
球 (qiú) means ball, 拍 (pāi) means to slap or clap. A racket is literally a ball-slapper. The sound 'pāi' even echoes the sharp clap of a paddle striking.
球 — jade radical 玉/王 + qiu 求 (phonetic)
球 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 王 is the 'jade' radical, indicating the original meaning: a fine piece of jade or a jade ornament. The right side 求 supplies the sound 'qiu'. Over time the meaning broadened from a jade sphere to any round object, and today it most commonly means 'ball' or 'globe'.
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.