拍照

The Chinese word 拍照 (pàizhào) for "taking a photo" is composed of two characters: 拍 (pāi) and 照 (zhào). The character 拍 originally meant "to strike" or "to clap", and in the context of photography, it refers to the action of pressing the shutter button on a camera to take a picture. The character 照, on the other hand, originally meant "to shine" or "to illuminate", and in the context of photography, it refers to the process of capturing light and creating an image. When combined, the two characters 拍照 literally mean "to strike light", which aptly describes the process of taking a photograph.