下棋 (xià qí) — to play chess | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

下棋 literally 'play chess,' but in practice covers any board game like Go, chess, or xiangqi — the 棋 specifies the game, the 下 specifies the activity.

verb

to play chess

Examples

下棋。
Wǒ xǐ huan hé bà ba xià qí.
I like to play chess with my dad.
。
Wǒ men zuó tiān xià le sān pán qí.
We played three games of chess yesterday.
下棋。
Tā měi tiān xià wǔ dōu qù gōng yuán xià qí.
He goes to the park every afternoon to play chess.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

The playing idea is directed toward 棋, giving 'play chess'.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

木其棋

Meaning part形符xíngfú

木木mùwooden

Sound part声符shēngfú

其

其qí棋qí

Same sound today

棋 has 木 on the left, showing it was made of wood, and 其 on the right gives the sound.

Appears in

Games & Puzzles

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