足球赛 (zú qiú sài) — football match, soccer game | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

football matchsoccer game

Measure word · 场

Examples

足球赛。
Zuó tiān yǒu yì chǎng jīng cǎi de zú qiú sài.
There was a wonderful football match yesterday.
足球赛，。
Wǒ zhèng zài kàn zú qiú sài, bié dǎ rǎo wǒ.
I'm watching the football match, don't bother me.
足球赛。
Zhè chǎng zú qiú sài xī yǐn le chéng qiān shàng wàn de guān zhòng.
This football match attracted tens of thousands of spectators.

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.

足球football

足zúfoot球qiúball

偏正Modifier + head

足球 means a ball kicked by the foot and 赛 means match, so together they denote a football game.

Characters in this word

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

足 was originally drawn as a leg.

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 賽; 赛 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

貝貝bèishell

Sound part声符shēngfú

塞

塞sāi賽sài

Same sound today

The traditional form 賽 uses 貝 (shell) for meaning and 塞 for sound. The simplified 赛 is a later shorthand.

Appears in

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