网球
wǎngqiú · HSK 2
tennis
🎾 网 (net) + 球 (ball) = net-ball = tennis
网 means net (the mesh stretched across the court) and 球 means ball. The compound literally reads net-ball, which Chinese uses for tennis. Compare 篮球 basket-ball, 足球 foot-ball.
网 — net radical 冂 + 亡 (phonetic)
網 (simplified 网) originally pictured a hunting or fishing net, with crossed mesh lines inside a frame. The modern simplified form 网 keeps that net shape directly. The traditional 網 adds 糸 (silk thread) for the material and 亡 as a phonetic hint for the wǎng sound.
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'.