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大奖 (dà jiǎng) — grand prize, top award

Definition

大奖 specifically means the top, first-place award in a competition — the grand prize — distinct from 奖 (j-iang) which covers any prize or award. Always the highest tier, not a runner-up or consolation prize.

noun
grand prizetop award
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 大奖。
    Tā yíng dé le zhè cì bǐ sài de dà jiǎng.
    He won the grand prize of this competition.
  • 大奖。
    Cǎi piào de dà jiǎng shì wǔ bǎi wàn yuán.
    The lottery grand prize is five million yuan.
  • 大奖。
    Zhè bù diàn yǐng huò dé le guó jì diàn yǐng jié de dà jiǎng.
    This film won the grand prize at an international film festival.

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dàbig
奖jiǎngprize

大 means big and 奖 means prize, giving a grand prize.

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 →
Appears in
Success & Failure

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