HSK 3.0 Level 2 · Things

篮球 lánqiú “basketball” in Chinese

Traditional 籃球

What 篮球 means

  1. basketball

Measure word 个 gè or 只 zhī · 一个篮球 yí ge lánqiú

How to say 篮球

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale篮lán2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale球qiú2nd tone, rising

篮球 in a sentence

  1. 我不打篮球。

    Wǒ bù dǎlánqiú.

    I don’t play basketball.

    Sentence #9958369 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 篮球可真是有意思。

    Lánqiú kě zhēnshi yǒuyìsi.

    Basketball is really fun.

    Sentence #6020854 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我喜欢看篮球比赛。

    Wǒ xǐhuan kàn lánqiú bǐsài.

    I love watching basketball games.

    Sentence #1933166 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 篮球 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 篮 (lán) with each of its parts in a different colour
篮lánbasket
  • ⺮bamboo form of 竹 · zhúMeaning part
  • 监to supervise · jiānSound part

⺮ hints at the meaning (bamboo); 监 (jiān) hints at the sound. Compare it with lán.

The character 球 (qiú) with each of its parts in a different colour
球qiúball used for playing games
  • 王king · wángMeaning part
  • 求to seek · qiúSound part

王 hints at the meaning (king); 求 (qiú) hints at the sound. Compare it with qiú.

Memory aidJade 王 with 求 (qiú) for the sound: a round bead of jade, so a ball.

How to write 篮球

篮 16 strokes · 球 11 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

篮球 (lánqiú) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 篮球 (lánqiú). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 篮球

Words with 篮

打篮球dǎlánqiú · to play basketball

Words with 球

球qiú · ball足球zúqiú · football打篮球dǎlánqiú · to play basketball踢足球tīzúqiú · to play football (football)球场qiúchǎng · (sports) court网球wǎngqiú · tennis地球dìqiú · the earth乒乓球pīngpāngqiú · table tennis羽毛球yǔmáoqiú · shuttlecock球迷qiúmí · fan (ball sports)

More words: Things & Objects

雨yǔ · rain床chuáng · bed机票jīpiào · air ticket酒店jiǔdiàn · hotel门口ménkǒu · doorway门票ménpiào · entrance ticket (for an attraction球qiú · ball书包shūbāo · schoolbag

FAQs

篮球 (lánqiú) means “basketball”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it lánqiú: lán with a 2nd tone, then qiú with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 篮球 is written 籃球. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 个 (gè) or 只 (zhī). For example, one basketball is 一个篮球 (yí ge lánqiú).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type lanqiu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 篮球 from the suggestions. Typing lanqiu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
篮球 is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 2 word list. It is not on the older HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.