球队
qiúduì · HSK 2
team
⚽👥 球 (ball) + 队 (team/squad) = ball team / sports team
球 means ball and 队 means team or squad (same 队 as in 团队). Together: a team that plays a ball sport. The 队 component shows up in many group words like 军队 (army) and 排队 (queue up).
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'.
队 — 阝(mound) + 㒸 (phonetic, suì)
Originally written 隊, depicting people falling from a mound (阝). The early sense was 'to fall down,' later borrowed for 'a group' or 'team' descending or marching together. The simplified form 队 keeps the mound radical 阝 but replaces the right side with 人 (person), suggesting people gathered in a line.