HSK 3.0 Level 2 · Things

足球 zúqiú “football” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 足球 means

  1. football
  2. a football ball

How to say 足球

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale足zú2nd 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

足球 in a sentence

  1. 足球是我最喜欢的运动。

    Zúqiú shì wǒ zuì xǐhuan de yùndòng.

    Football is my favourite sport.

    Sentence #406351 from Tatoeba

  2. 我们去踢足球吧！

    Wǒmen qù tīzúqiú ba!

    Let’s go and play soccer!

    Sentence #11231395 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 我以前从没踢过足球。

    Wǒ yǐqián cóngméi tīguo zúqiú.

    I’ve never played football before.

    Sentence #10614328 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 足球 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 足 (jù) drawn as one shape
足zúfoot; leg

足 is a single shape of 7 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidDrawn from a leg with a foot below: foot. You see it on the left of 跑 (pǎo) “run”, 跳 (tiào) “jump” and 踢 (tī) “kick”.

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 足球

足 7 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.

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

Words related to 足球

Words with 足

踢足球tīzúqiú · to play football (football)满足mǎnzú · to satisfy不足bùzú · insufficient立足lìzú · to gain a foothold充足chōngzú · sufficient十足shízú · complete足以zúyǐ · enough to举足轻重jǔzúqīngzhòng · to play a decisive role微不足道wēibùzúdào · insignificant知足常乐zhīzúchánglè · contentment brings happiness

Words with 球

球qiú · ball篮球lánqiú · basketball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

门票ménpiào · entrance ticket (for an attraction球qiú · ball书包shūbāo · schoolbag药店yàodiàn · pharmacy声shēng · sound电diàn · electricity鞋xié · shoe纸zhǐ · paper

FAQs

足球 (zúqiú) means “football” or “a football ball”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 2 word.
Say it zúqiú: zú 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.
Yes. 足球 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zuqiu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 足球 from the suggestions. Typing zuqiu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
足球 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.