赛前 (sài qián) — before a match/game/competition; pre-competition | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

before a match/game/competitionpre-competition

Examples

赛前。
Yùn dòng yuán zài sài qián jìn xíng le zuì hòu de rè shēn.
The athletes did their final warm-up before the match.
赛前。
sài qián De qì fen fēi cháng jǐn zhāng.
The atmosphere before the match was very tense.
赛前。
Jiào liàn zài sài qián gěi duì yuán men bù zhì le zhàn shù.
The coach arranged tactics for the team before the match.

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.

赛sàicompetition

It means the time 前 a 赛.

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.

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.

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

止止zhǐfoot
舟舟zhōuboat

In the older form of 前, 止 (foot) and 舟 (boat) showed a foot on a boat moving forward; in the current 前 those parts are shortened.

Appears in

Sports & Athletics

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.