Table Tennis English-Chinese Glossary

Glossary

Anti Spin Rubber 防弧胶皮 A rubber type that reduces incoming spin and speed and generally returns a slower ball with much less spin

Backhand 反手 A stroke typically done in front of the body using backhand side rubber

Backspin / Underspin 下旋球 A type of spin where, if struck with a vertical racket position, the ball will go downwards

Block 挡 A defensive shot against strong attacks to keep the ball in play

Chop 削 A defensive shot with strong backspin

Chop block 磕 A defensive shot between a block and a chop generally used near the table that imparts some backspin

Counterloop 反拉 An offensive shot with strong topspin against an incoming ball that also has strong topspin

Cross court 斜线 A shot going diagonally across the table, as opposed to down the line

Dead/Knuckle/No-spin ball 不转球 A ball returned with little or no spin

Doubles 双打 A game format in table tennis where two people play on each side and must alternate turns at hitting the ball

Down the line 直线 A shot going down the table, as opposed to cross court which is diagonal across the table

Drop shot 放短球 A surprise shot where the ball is dropped close to the net

Flick / Flip 挑球 An offensive shot against a short ball

Banana flick / Chiquita 拧球 An offensive modern backhand stroke that generally imparts plenty of side-top spin against a short ball

Footwork 步伐/脚步 How a player moves his/her feet during the game

Forehand 正手 A stroke typically done to the right-front (for right-handers) of the body, with forehand side rubber

Half-long serve 发半出台球 A serve whose second bounce, given the opportunity, would bounce near the very end or just off the table

Inverted Rubber 反胶 A rubber type that is grippy and very good for imparting spin on the ball

Lob 放高球 A defensive shot usually done further from table and returns a high ball

Long pips 长胶/长颗粒 A rubber type whose surface consists of fairly long pimples

Long serve 发长球/发奔球 A serve that is typically fast and lands close to the end of the other side of the table

Loop 拉球 An offensive shot with strong topspin

Medium pips 中胶/生胶/中颗粒 A rubber type whose surface consists of medium length pimples

Multi-ball training 多球训练 A training style where a coach or training partner manually feeds balls sequentially to a player to hit

Penhold 直排 A grip where the racket is held like a pen with the racket handle held roughly vertically

Punch 拱 An offsensive backhand shot where the racket strikes the ball imparting much speed but not much spin

Push 搓 A defensive shot used to return backspin shots, where the racket is open to push the backspin ball over the net

Serve and attack 发球抢攻 A sequence where a player serves the ball and attacks the returned ball strongly

Shakehand 横拍 A grip where the racket is held like shaking a hand with the racket handle held roughly horizontally

Short pips 短胶/正胶/短颗粒 A rubber type whose surface consists of short length pimples

Short serve 发短球/发不出台球 A serve that, given the opportunity, would bounce at least twice on the table

Sidespin 侧旋球 A type of spin where, if struck with a vertical racket position, the ball would go sideways to the right or left

Smash 杀 An offensive shot to strike a high ball with a lot of strength

Swipe 撇/刮 A stroke where the racket is moving sideways to strike the ball

Topspin 上旋球 A type of spin where, if struck with a vertical racket position, the ball will go upwards

Twiddle 倒板 An act of turning racket in hand in order to use a different side of the racket to strike the ball