屈居 (qū jū) — to be forced to accept an inferior place or position (in a ranking, competition, etc.)

Definition

屈居 means 'to be forced to settle for a lower place' in a ranking — usually through circumstance, not choice. Pairs with a place/position (第二, 第三), unlike 居 alone.

verb
to be forced to accept an inferior place or position (in a ranking, competition, etc.)

Examples

  • 屈居，。
    Zhè cì bǐ sài tā men qū jū dì èr, méi néng duó guàn.
    In this competition they had to settle for second place and couldn't win the championship.
  • 屈居，。
    Tā suī rán qū jū rén hòu, dàn shǐ zhōng méi yǒu fàng qì nǔ lì.
    Although he was forced into a lower position behind others, he never gave up his efforts.
  • ，屈居。
    Yóu yú shāng bìng yǐng xiǎng, zhè míng xuǎn shǒu qū jū xiǎo zǔ dì sān.
    Due to the impact of injury, this athlete ended up in third place in the group.

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.

屈qūforced or inferior
居jūoccupy

屈 conveys being forced or accepting an inferior position, while 居 means to occupy; together they mean to occupy a lower place reluctantly.

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
尾尾wěitail
Sound part声符shēngfú
出
出chū屈qū
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

屈 was built from 出 for sound and 尾 for tail; the tail part later changed into the top of 屈.

Open 屈 →

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
尸尸shī
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ居jū
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

居 is built from 尸 as the meaning part and 古 (gǔ) as the sound part.

Open 居 →

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