越位 (yuè wèi) — (sports) offside

Definition

In football (soccer), 越位 (offside) is the rule violation called when an attacking player receives the ball beyond the last defender when the pass is made.

noun
(sports) offside

Examples

  • 越位。
    Cái pàn zuò chū le yuè wèi de pàn fá.
    The referee made an offside call.
  • 越位。
    Zhè ge jìn qiú yīn yuè wèi ér bèi qǔ xiāo.
    This goal was disallowed because of offside.
  • 越位。
    yuè wèi Shì zú qiú zhōng zhòng yào de guī zé zhī yī.
    Offside is one of the important rules in soccer.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

越yuècross beyond
位wèiposition

越 means to cross beyond, and 位 is the position one should not enter.

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
走走zǒuto walk or run
Sound part声符shēngfú
戉
戉yuè越yuè
Same sound today

越 is built from 走 (to walk or run) and 戉 (which supplies the sound); the 走 part shows the idea of going over or crossing.

Open 越 →

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
人人rénman
Sound part声符shēngfú
立
立lì位wèi
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

位 combines 人 (man), related to people, with 立, which gives the sound. It was often simply written as 立.

Open 位 →

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