队长 (duì zhǎng) — captain; team leader

Definition

The leader of a specific team (sports, work, project). Pairs with 队员 ('team member'); for a country or movement, use 领袖.

noun

captainteam leader

Measure word · 个

队长。
Tā shì wǒ men duì de duì zhǎng.
He is the captain of our team.
，队长。
Bǐ sài shí, duì zhǎng ràng dà jiā bú yào jǐn zhāng.
During the game, the captain told everyone not to be nervous.
队长。
Xīn lái de duì zhǎng hěn yǒu jīng yàn.
The new captain has a lot of experience.

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.

The '队' part means team and the '长' part means leader; together they denote the person who leads a team.

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.

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.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 長; 长 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 長 pictures an old man with long hair. The simplified 长 is a later shorthand, so its strokes do not show that original picture.

Appears in