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冠军 (guàn jūn) — champion

Definition

冠军 refers specifically to the champion — the top winner of a tournament or competition. 赢家 is the more general word for 'winner' of any contest or even a non-sporting victory.

noun
champion
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 冠军。
    Tā zài quán guó bǐ sài zhōng huò dé le guàn jūn.
    He won the champion in the national competition.
  • 冠军。
    Tā shì qù nián de shì jiè guàn jūn.
    She is last year's world champion.
  • 冠军。
    Zhè zhī duì wu lián xù sān nián chéng wéi guàn jūn.
    This team became champion for three consecutive years.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

冠guānbe first
军jūnarmy

冠 means to be first and 军 means army, so it means the one first in the army.

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
冖冖mìhat
寸寸cùnhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
元
元yuán冠guàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

冠 shows a hand putting a hat on a head: 寸 is the hand, 冖 is the hat, and 元 is the head.

Open 冠 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 軍; 军 is its simplified writing.

  • 車車jūcart; chariot
  • 勹勹bāoto surround

In the traditional form 軍, 車 shows the chariot sense, while the part now written 勹 is a sound part, not the 'surround' 勹. Simplified 军 is a later shorthand.

Open 军 →
Appears in
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