球衣 (qiú yī) — sports jersey, jersey

Definition

Examples

  • 球衣。
    Tā chuān zhuó yí jiàn hóng sè qiú yī zài qiú chǎng shàng bēn pǎo.
    He was running on the court wearing a red jersey.
  • 球衣。
    Wǒ zhī chí de nà zhī qiú duì jīn nián chū le xīn qiú yī.
    The team I support released a new jersey this year.
  • 球衣,。
    Zhè jiàn qiú yī shì xiàn liàng bǎn, shàng miàn yǒu qiú yuán qiān míng.
    This jersey is a limited edition with the player's autograph on it.

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.

球qiúball/sport
衣yīclothes

球 names ball games and 衣 names clothing; together they mean a shirt worn for sports.

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
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 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 衣 comes from an outline of the chest and upper clothing.

Open 衣 →

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