校际 (xiào jì) — (attributive) inter-school, between schools

Definition

Used only as an attributive modifier meaning 'between schools / inter-school' — appears before a noun (e.g. 校际比赛), never as a predicate on its own.

adjective

(attributive) inter-schoolbetween schools

校际。
Wǒ men xué xiào cān jiā le xiào jì biàn lùn sài.
Our school participated in the inter-school debate competition.
校际。
Zhè cì xiào jì jiāo liú huó dòng hěn yǒu yì yì.
This inter-school exchange activity was very meaningful.
校际。
xiào jì Lán qiú sài xià ge yuè kāi shǐ.
The inter-school basketball tournament starts next month.

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.

际jìbetween

校 means school and 际 means between or among, together conveying between schools.

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.

木交校

Meaning part形符xíngfú

木木mùtree

Sound part声符shēngfú

交

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

校 is built from 木 (tree) on the left and 交 on the right, which supplies the sound.

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 際; 际 is its simplified writing.

阝祭際

Meaning part形符xíngfú

阝Written in full as阜fù

Sound part声符shēngfú

祭

祭jì際⁰jì

Same sound today

The traditional form 際 pairs 阝 with 祭: 阝 gives the meaning and 祭 gives the sound. The simplified 际 is a later shorthand.