大奖赛 (dà jiǎng sài) — grand prix; major competition with a grand prize

Definition

大奖赛 is a 'grand prix' — a large, prestigious competition, often for sports (like 国际赛车大奖赛) or other elite contests. 比赛 is the everyday word for any match or competition; 大奖赛 implies a higher-profile, prize-heavy event.

noun
grand prixmajor competition with a grand prize
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 大奖赛。
    Tā yíng dé le zhè cì dà jiǎng sài de guàn jūn.
    He won the championship of this grand prix.
  • 大奖赛。
    Zhè ge dà jiǎng sài xī yǐn le lái zì shì jiè gè dì de xuǎn shǒu.
    This grand prix attracted contestants from all over the world.
  • 大奖赛。
    Shàng hǎi měi nián dōu huì jǔ bàn guó jì sài chē dà jiǎng sài.
    Shanghai holds an international racing grand prix every year.

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.

大奖grand prize
偏正Modifier + head
赛sàicontest

大 means big and 奖 means prize, forming a grand prize, while 赛 means contest.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

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 獎; 奖 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
犬犬quǎndog
Sound part声符shēngfú
將
將jiāng獎jiǎng
Same sound today

The traditional form 獎 pairs 將 as a sound part with 犬, a dog; the simplified 奖 is a later shorthand. The evidence says the dog part's meaning is unclear, perhaps referring to guiding a dog by voice.

Open 奖 →

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 賽; 赛 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèishell
Sound part声符shēngfú
塞
塞sāi賽sài
Same sound today

The traditional form 賽 uses 貝 (shell) for meaning and 塞 for sound. The simplified 赛 is a later shorthand.

Open 赛 →

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