Term
Serve
Also called: Service
The shot that starts a rally. It goes into the opponent's service court diagonally across.
Hitting the ball with the paddle first to start a rally (Section 2, Definitions). It goes into the opponent's service court diagonally across (7.E, Serve diagonally).
There are two ways to serve: the volley serve and the drop serve. For the volley serve, the rules say you swing from low to high and hit the ball below the waist (7.C.1, 7.C.3, How to serve (volley serve and drop serve)). For the drop serve, you drop the ball and hit it after it bounces (7.D).
See it in a figure
This figure is from the rule "Serve diagonally".
How to read the sources: numbers like (8.F.4) are rulebook sections, and links are outside sources. An "Author's note" is the author's personal experience, not an official rule.