冠军级 (guàn jūn jí) — champion-level, top-tier

Definition

A descriptive label meaning 'champion-level / top-tier', used to rate a person, team, or performance as among the very best. It functions as an attributive adjective before a noun.

adjective
champion-leveltop-tier

Examples

  • 冠军级。
    Tā de biǎo xiàn dá dào le guàn jūn jí shuǐ zhǔn.
    His performance reached champion-level standards.
  • 冠军级，。
    Zhè zhī qiú duì shì guàn jūn jí de, jī hū méi yǒu duì shǒu.
    This team is champion-level; they have almost no opponents.
  • ，冠军级。
    Tā jīng guò shí nián xùn liàn, zhōng yú chéng wéi guàn jūn jí yùn dòng yuán.
    After ten years of training, she finally became a champion-level athlete.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

冠军champion
冠guānbe first军jūnarmy
动宾Verb + object
级jílevel

冠军 means champion and 级 means level, together giving champion-level.

Characters in this word

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
冖冖mìhat
寸寸cùnhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
元
元yuán冠guàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

冠 shows a hand putting a hat on a head: 寸 is the hand, 冖 is the hat, and 元 is the head.

Open 冠 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 軍; 军 is its simplified writing.

  • 車車jūcart; chariot
  • 勹勹bāoto surround

In the traditional form 軍, 車 shows the chariot sense, while the part now written 勹 is a sound part, not the 'surround' 勹. Simplified 军 is a later shorthand.

Open 军 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 級; 级 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
糹Written in full as糸mìthread
Sound part声符shēngfú
及
及jí級jí
Same sound today

The traditional form 級 has 糹 (thread) and 及 as a sound part; its original sense was a sequence related to silk. The simplified 级 is a later shorthand.

Open 级 →

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