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夺冠 (duó guàn) — to win the championship, title, or gold medal

Definition

夺冠 means 'to win the championship/title' — common in sports reporting. Compared with 夺魁 (more literary, 'come out on top'), 夺冠 is the everyday newspaper/journalism phrase.

verb
to win the championshiptitleor gold medal

Examples

  • 夺冠。
    Wǒ men duì wu zuì zhōng duó guàn le.
    Our team ultimately won the championship.
  • 夺冠。
    Tā mèng xiǎng zhe zài ào yùn huì shàng duó guàn.
    He dreams of winning gold at the Olympics.
  • 夺冠。
    Zhè cì bǐ sài shuí néng duó guàn hái bù zhī dào.
    It's not yet known who will win the championship in this competition.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

夺duóseize
冠guāncrown

To 夺 the 冠, or crown, is to win the championship or top title.

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 奪; 夺 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 奪 includes 又 (a hand), 雀 (a bird), and 衣 (clothing), showing a hand seizing a bird from someone; the simplified 夺 is a later abbreviation.

Open 夺 →

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 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Sports & AthleticsSuccess & Failure

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