世界杯
shì jiè bēi
The Chinese phrase for "world cup" is 世界杯 (shì jiè bēi).
世界杯 refers to the international football tournament, but it can also be used to describe other major international sports competitions that use a cup or trophy as their namesake.
Meaning: international football tournament, other sports competitions similar to this (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
The term is composed of 世界 (shìjiè) meaning "world" and 杯 (bēi) meaning "cup". The character 杯 specifically denotes "cup" or "trophy".
How do you pronounce it?
shì jiè bēi
Did you know?
- The character 杯 is also used in Chinese to describe 'cups' in the context of breast size, making the word a homonym with a completely different anatomical meaning.
- Fans in China often use the term 世界杯 to trigger 'world cup fever' 世界杯热, a specific phrase describing the national obsession that halts other social activities.
- When discussing the 世界杯, the character 界 in 世界 is also used to denote 'boundaries' or 'circles' in many social contexts, like 'industry' or 'field'.
Examples in context
- 谁也不工作。大家在看世界杯。No one is working. Everyone's watching the World Cup.This sentence shows how people might be distracted from work to watch 世界杯.Tatoeba #404305 by GlossaMatik, translation #404295 by CM
- 现在全世界有数以百万计的人看世界杯。There are millions of people all over the world who are watching the World Cup right now.This sentence highlights the massive global scale of people watching 世界杯.Tatoeba #5767607 by verdastelo9604, translation #3324264 by Hybrid
- 世界杯 11 号就要开始了。The World Cup is going to start on the 11th.This sentence is useful for announcing a specific start date for 世界杯.Tatoeba #3060499 by trieuho, translation #3060500 by trieuho
- 今年的 世界杯 很精彩。This year's World Cup is very exciting.
- 4 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
志强 and 雨婷 are discussing football at home.
- 志强 Zhiqiang雨婷，你看世界杯了吗？Yǔtíng, nǐ kàn shìjièbēi le ma?Yuting, did you watch the World Cup?
- 雨婷 Yuting看了，昨晚的比赛太棒了。Kàn le, zuówǎn de bǐsài tài bàng le.I did, last night's match was amazing.
- 志强 Zhiqiang我也觉得，非常精彩。Wǒ yě juédé, fēicháng jīngcǎi.I think so too, it was wonderful.
- 雨婷 Yuting志强，你猜谁会赢？Zhìqiáng, nǐ cāi shéi huì yíng?Zhiqiang, who do you guess will win?
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
