排球队 (pái qiú duì) — volleyball team

Definition

noun
volleyball team
Measure word · 支

Examples

  • 排球队。
    Wǒ men xué xiào yǒu yì zhī pái qiú duì.
    Our school has a volleyball team.
  • 排球队，。
    Tā shì pái qiú duì de duì zhǎng, xùn liàn hěn rèn zhēn.
    He is the captain of the volleyball team and trains very seriously.
  • 排球队。
    pái qiú duì Xià ge yuè yào cān jiā quán guó bǐ sài.
    The volleyball team will participate in a national competition next month.

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.

排球volleyball
排páivolley球qiúball
偏正Modifier + head
队duìteam

排球 means volley ball and 队 means team, so together they mean a team that plays volleyball.

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
扌Written in full as手shǒuhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
非
非fēi排pái
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

排 uses 扌 (hand) to show arranging something with the hand, and 非 for the sound; this gives the sense of placing things in a line.

Open 排 →

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.

Open 球 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 隊; 队 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阜阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
㒸
㒸㒸隊duì
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 隊 has 阜 as the meaning part and 㒸 as the sound part.

Open 队 →

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