球队 (qiú duì) — sports team (basketball, soccer, football etc.) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A team in ball sports (soccer, basketball, etc.). 团队 is a general ‘team’ for any group (work, projects), not just sports.

noun

sports team (basketball, soccer, football etc.)

Measure word · 支

Examples

球队。
qiú duì De qiú yuán men xùn liàn hěn nǔ lì.
The players on the team train very hard.
球队。
Wǒ men chéng shì yǒu liǎng zhī qiú duì.
Our city has two sports teams.
球队。
Míng tiān qiú duì yǒu yì chǎng zhòng yào de bǐ sài.
Tomorrow the team has an important game.

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 names ball sports and 队 names a group, so together they mean a team that plays ball games.

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.

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.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 4 Groups & Organizations Sports & Athletics 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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