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拔河 (bá hé) — (noun) tug-of-war (a sport); (verb) to play tug-of-war; to have a tug-of-war

Definition

拔河 (bá hé) is both the noun 'tug-of-war' (the sport) and the verb 'to play tug-of-war'. 拔 means to pull out, 河 means river — the name comes from the old image of two sides pulling a rope as if drawing water from a river.

noun
tug-of-war (a sport)
verb
to play tug-of-warto have a tug-of-war
Measure word · 场

Examples

  • 拔河。
    Wǒ men xué xiào měi nián dōu yǒu bá hé bǐ sài.
    Our school has a tug-of-war competition every year.
  • 。
    Zuó tiān wǒ men hé gé bì bān bá le yí cì hé.
    Yesterday we had a tug-of-war with the next class once.
  • 拔河，。
    bá hé Shí, dà jiā dōu yào yòng lì lā.
    When playing tug-of-war, everyone must pull hard.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

拔bápull
河hériver

拔 means pull and 河 means river; the name pictures pulling on a rope across a river.

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
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
犮
犮bá拔bá
Same sound today

In 拔, the left side 扌 is a hand and the right side 犮 gives the sound; the shape pictures a hand pulling.

Open 拔 →

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
水水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
何
何hé河hé
Same sound today

河 pairs 水 (water) with 何, which gives the sound. The 水 part marks it as a word for a river.

Open 河 →
Appears in
Sports & Athletics

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