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赛季 (sài jì) — (sports) season

Definition

赛季 refers to a sports season — the period a league or tournament runs. Use 季 alone for natural seasons (spring, summer, etc.), and 赛事 for the competition or event itself.

noun
(sports) season
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 赛季。
    Zhè ge sài jì tā de zhuàng tài fēi cháng hǎo.
    His form is very good this season.
  • 赛季。
    Qiú duì zhǔn bèi yíng jiē xīn de sài jì.
    The team is preparing for the new season.
  • 赛季。
    Shàng ge sài jì tā men yíng dé le zǒng guàn jūn.
    They won the championship last season.

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
季jìseason

赛 means competition and 季 means season, so the word names the season for sports competitions.

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.

Open 赛 →

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

季 is formed by placing 禾 above 子.

Open 季 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Sports & Athletics

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