How to Say "Tennis" in Mandarin

网球

wǎngqiú

Tennis in Mandarin is 网球 (wǎngqiú).

网球 refers to the sport played with racquets. To say you are playing tennis, you use the verb 打 (dǎ), which means 'to hit', to form the phrase 打网球.

Meaning: sport played by two or four players with strung racquets (noun)

What does it mean word for word?

The word is composed of 网 (wǎng), meaning 'net' and 球 (qiú), meaning 'ball'.

网球 is the standard version used in Mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore. In Hong Kong and Macau, the traditional character form 網球 is used.

wǎngqiú

While 网球 is used for the sport, the word 球 (qiú) is so versatile that it refers to any spherical object, from a marble to a planet like Earth, which is called 地球 (dìqiú) or 'earth ball'.
Because 网球 uses the character 网 (wǎng) for 'net', it is visually and linguistically related to the word for the internet, which is also called 网络 (wǎngluò).
The character 网 (wǎng) is a pictograph that originally looked like a handheld fishing net, which explains why it is used to describe the tennis net.

我喜欢打网球。
I like to play tennis.
This sentence is useful for expressing a personal preference for playing 网球.
Tatoeba #1691828 by sadhen, translation #39392 by CK
我以前打网球。
I used to play tennis.
This sentence is useful for talking about a past habit of playing 网球.
Tatoeba #4623415 by McMeao, translation #453663 by CM
您不打网球吗？
Do you not play tennis?
This sentence is useful for asking someone if they do not play 网球.
Tatoeba #10058516 by slo_oth, translation #16504 by orcrist
68 more sentences on Tatoeba

Two friends are discussing their weekend hobbies.

欣怡 Xinyi

浩然，你喜欢打网球吗？
Hàorán, nǐ xǐhuān dǎ wǎngqiú ma?
Haoran, do you like playing tennis?
浩然 Haoran

我非常喜欢这项运动。
Wǒ fēicháng xǐhuān zhè xiàng yùndòng.
I like this sport very much.
欣怡 Xinyi

那我们这周末去打球吧。
Nà wǒmen zhè zhōumò qù dǎ qiú ba.
Then let's go play this weekend.
浩然 Haoran

好啊，没问题。
Hǎo a, méi wèntí.
Sure, no problem.

Sources

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