乒乓球 pīngpāngqiú ping pong
ping pong; table tennis
How to remember 乒乓球: 乒 ping + 乓 pong + 球 ball = ping pong.
Characters
How it is used
- The name for table tennis/ping pong, both the sport and the ball - 打乒乓球 (dǎ pīngpāngqiú) to play ping pong, using 打 as the standard verb for ball sports played with a paddle/racket.
- 乒 and 乓 are onomatopoeic characters imitating the ball's clack sound and essentially never appear apart from this word.
- A hugely popular sport in China, often called China's national sport (国球 guóqiú).
Example sentences
- 桌上有一个乒乓球。 Zhuō shàng yǒu yī gè pīngpāngqiú.There's a ping pong ball on the desk.