领队 (lǐng duì) — to lead a group; leader of a group; captain (of a sports team)

Definition

Use 领队 as the person who leads a tour group, expedition, or team on the move. Unlike 队长 (captain of a fixed sports team) or 领导 (an organizational leader), it focuses on the one guiding others during a shared activity.

to lead a groupleader of a groupcaptain (of a sports team)
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 领队
    Zhè cì kǎo chá yóu wáng jiào shòu lǐng duì.
    Professor Wang is leading this expedition.
  • 领队
    Wǒ men de lǐng duì hěn yǒu jīng yàn, dà jiā dōu hěn fàng xīn.
    Our team leader is very experienced, so everyone feels at ease.
  • 领队
    Tā céng jīng shì lán qiú duì de lǐng duì, xiàn zài dāng le jiào liàn.
    He used to be the captain of the basketball team, and now he's a coach.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

duìgroup

领 means to lead and 队 means a group, so the word describes leading a group or the person who does it.

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 領; 领 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
Sound part声符shēngfú
lìnglǐng
Same sound today

The traditional form 領 has 令 as a sound part and 頁 as a meaning part; the simplified 领 is a later shorthand.

Open 领 →

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
Sound part声符shēngfú
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.

Open 队 →

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