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外援 (wài yuán) — foreign aid, external assistance (economic or humanitarian); (sports) foreign player, overseas player

Definition

外援 has two distinct senses: 'foreign aid' (economic or humanitarian assistance from outside, e.g. 国际外援) and '(sports) foreign player' — an athlete recruited from abroad for a domestic team or league.

noun
foreign aidexternal assistance (economic or humanitarian)(sports) foreign playeroverseas player
Measure word · 名

Examples

  • 外援。
    Fēi zhōu xǔ duō guó jiā jiē shòu guó jì wài yuán lái jiàn shè jī chǔ shè shī.
    Many African countries accept international aid to build infrastructure.
  • 外援。
    Zhè jiā jù lè bù huā zhòng jīn qiān le yì míng wài yuán.
    This club spent a lot of money to sign a foreign player.
  • CBA外援。
    CBA lián sài yǔn xǔ měi duì zhù cè liǎng míng wài yuán.
    The CBA league allows each team to register two foreign players.

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.

外wàioutside; foreign
援yuánaid

外 means outside or foreign and 援 means aid, so 外援 is aid coming from outside.

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
卜卜bǔ
Sound part声符shēngfú
月
月yuè外wài
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

外 pairs 卜 with 月, a crescent moon; in its older form, the 卜 part had a horizontal bar extending outward, giving the sense of outside.

Open 外 →

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
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
爰
爰yuán援yuán
Same sound today

In 援, the left 扌 (written fully as 手) is a hand, and the right 爰 tells you how it sounds.

Open 援 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9International & DiplomacySports & Athletics

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