金奖 (jīn jiǎng) — gold award, gold medal

Definition

noun
gold awardgold medal
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 金奖。
    Tā zài bǐ sài zhōng huò dé le yì méi jīn jiǎng.
    He won a gold medal in the competition.
  • 金奖。
    Zhè shì xué xiào bān fā gěi tā de zuì gāo jīn jiǎng.
    This is the highest gold award issued to him by the school.
  • 金奖。
    Tā huò dé le běn jiè guó jì dà sài de jīn jiǎng.
    She won the gold award at this international competition.

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.

金jīngold
奖jiǎngaward

金 and 奖 combine to mean a gold award or medal.

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.

金 was drawn with marks for two pieces of metal, along with a part that gave its sound; it first meant copper, then metals and gold.

Open 金 →

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 獎; 奖 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
犬犬quǎndog
Sound part声符shēngfú
將
將jiāng獎jiǎng
Same sound today

The traditional form 獎 pairs 將 as a sound part with 犬, a dog; the simplified 奖 is a later shorthand. The evidence says the dog part's meaning is unclear, perhaps referring to guiding a dog by voice.

Open 奖 →

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