反撃
はんげき · hangeki · JLPT N1 · noun
counterattack
🥊 反 = against + 撃 = strike: a strike made against an attacker's strike
Same 反 as 反対 (opposite). Same 撃 as 攻撃 (attack). Together: 反撃 is hitting back against an opponent's attack.
反 — hand 又 under cliff 厂
Originally a pictograph of a hand (又) turning something over against a cliff or slope (厂), depicting the action of flipping or reversing. From this came the core meaning 'to turn over,' which extended to 'opposite,' 'contrary,' and 'rebel against.' The character is purely semantic, with no phonetic component.