台球 (tái qiú) — billiards | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

billiards

Examples

台球。
Tā měi gè zhōu mò dōu qù jù lè bù dǎ tái qiú.
He goes to the club to play billiards every weekend.
台球。
Zhè jiā tái qiú guǎn de zhuō zi hěn xīn.
The tables at this billiard hall are very new.
台球。
Dǎ tái qiú xū yào hěn hǎo de jì qiǎo.
Playing billiards requires good skill.

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.

A 台, 'table', with 球, 'ball', names the ball game played on a table.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 臺; 台 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 台 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (窗台, 电视台) it is 臺; in others (台灯, 台球) (台风) it is 檯 or 台 or 颱.

喬喬qiáo
室室shì

The traditional form 臺 is the 喬 + 室 form; earlier versions combined a sound part with 室, and an old reading saw it as a watch tower.

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.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 Games & Puzzles Sports & Athletics

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