足球队 (zú qiú duì) — football/soccer team | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

football/soccer team

Measure word · 支

Examples

足球队。
Tā shì wǒ men xué xiào zú qiú duì de duì zhǎng.
He is the captain of our school's football team.
足球队。
Tā cóng xiǎo jiù mèng xiǎng jiā rù guó jiā zú qiú duì.
She has dreamed of joining the national football team since she was young.
足球队。
Zhè zhī zú qiú duì yíng dé le qù nián de guàn jūn.
This football team won last year's championship.

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.

足球football

足zúfoot球qiúball

偏正Modifier + head

足 (foot) and 球 (ball) form football, and 队 (team) makes a football team.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

足 was originally drawn as a leg.

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

玉玉yùjade

Sound part声符shēngfú

求

求qiú球qiú

Same sound today

球 is built from 玉, meaning jade, and 求, which gives the sound.

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 隊; 队 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

阜阜fù

Sound part声符shēngfú

㒸

㒸㒸隊duì

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 隊 has 阜 as the meaning part and 㒸 as the sound part.

Appears in

Ball Games Groups & Organizations

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