Meaning of 运动员
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- athlete
Measure word: 名,個|个
How to use 运动员
运动员 refers to athletes in general, from Olympic stars to school team members. You can add a sport in front for specific athletes, like 足球运动员 (zúqiú yùndòngyuán), football player. Example: 他是一名职业运动员。(Tā shì yì míng zhíyè yùndòngyuán.) He is a professional athlete.
运动员 is built from 运动 (yùndòng), sports or exercise, plus 员 (yuán), a person who belongs to a group or does a job. So an athlete is literally a "sports person."
Common mistake: Learners often drop 员 and say 他是运动 to mean "he is an athlete," but 运动 alone means sports or exercise. Also keep 员 (yuán) in the second tone, and do not confuse it with 圆 (yuán, round), which has an enclosing box around it.
运动员 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
运 yùn · to move · 7 strokes
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动 dòng · to move · 6 strokes
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员 yuán · person engaged in a certain field of ac… · 7 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 运动员.
| 动作 | dòngzuò | movement; motion; action; to act; to move |
| 行动 | xíngdòng | operation; action |
| 动物 | dòngwù | animal |
| 活动 | huódòng | to exercise; to move about; to work out; shaky; unsteady; loose (tooth etc) |
| 运动 | yùndòng | to move; to exercise |
| 感动 | gǎndòng | to move (sb); to touch (sb emotionally) |
| 动物园 | dòngwùyuán | zoo |
| 幸运 | xìngyùn | fortunate; lucky; good fortune; luck |
| 命运 | mìngyùn | fate; destiny |
| 人员 | rényuán | staff; crew |
| 演员 | yǎnyuán | actor; actress; performer |
| 成员 | chéngyuán | member |
Questions about 运动员
What does 运动员 mean?
运动员 (yùndòngyuán) means "athlete" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 运动员?
运动员 is made of 3 characters: 运 (7 strokes), 动 (6 strokes), 员 (7 strokes). That is 20 strokes in total.
Is 运动员 an HSK word?
Yes. 运动员 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 运动员 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 运动员 is written 運動員.
What measure word is used with 运动员?
The most common are 个 (gè) in casual speech and 名 (míng) or 位 (wèi) in more formal or polite contexts. For example, 一名运动员 (yì míng yùndòngyuán), one athlete.
Can 运动员 describe someone who just exercises a lot?
Not usually. 运动员 suggests someone who trains or competes in a sport, often on a team or professionally. For a person who simply likes working out, you can say 他很喜欢运动 (tā hěn xǐhuan yùndòng), he really likes exercising.