折桂 (zhé guì) — to win first place / championship (in a competition or contest)

Definition

A literary/formal chengyu meaning 'to win the championship / first place'. Originally an image of plucking a laurel branch to crown a victor; used in writing and announcements, not casual speech.

verb
to win first place / championship (in a competition or contest)

Examples

  • 折桂。
    Tā zài zhè cì bǐ sài zhōng chéng gōng zhé guì.
    He successfully won first place in this competition.
  • ，。
    Tā jīng guò duō nián nǔ lì, zhōng yú zhé le guì.
    After years of hard work, she finally won the championship.
  • 折桂！
    Gōng xǐ nǐ zài guó jì shù xué jìng sài zhōng zhé guì!
    Congratulations on winning first place in the international math competition!

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

折zhépluck
桂guìcassia

The characters 折 and 桂 literally describe plucking cassia, which came to mean winning first place.

Characters in this word

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

  • 屮𣏄𣏄a tree {{zh-m|*木}} cut in half
  • 斤斤jīnaxe

The shape originally showed an axe (斤) cutting a tree in half; in 折 the left part is now written as a hand.

Open 折 →

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
木木mù
Sound part声符shēngfú
圭
圭guī桂guì
Same sound today

桂 is built from 木, a tree, and 圭, which points to its sound.

Open 桂 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.