运动
sports; exercise; to exercise
yùndòng
What does 运动 mean?
运动 (yùndòng) covers both 'sports' and 'exercise / physical activity' — and it can also be a verb 'to exercise / to work out.' As a noun: 我喜欢运动 ('I like sports / exercise'); as a verb: 我每天运动 ('I exercise every day'). To say 'do/play a specific sport,' Chinese uses different verbs: 打 for ball-and-hand sports (打篮球, 打网球), 踢 for kicking (踢足球), 游 for swimming, 跑 for running.
So 运动 is the umbrella word, not the action verb. 运动 also has a third sense: 'movement' as in social/political movement (五四运动 — 'May Fourth Movement') and a fourth sense in physics: 'motion.' Related noun 运动员 (yùndòngyuán) means 'athlete'; 运动会 (yùndònghuì) is a 'sports meet / track meet.'
Character breakdown
to move; to transport; fortune
to move; to act
Memory hook: Two 'move' characters stacked — moving + moving = exercise. 运 has the walking radical 辶, like 'movement on the go.'
Measure word for 运动
Example sentences
我每天都做运动。
Wǒ měi tiān dōu zuò yùndòng.
I exercise every day.
spoken
你喜欢什么运动？
Nǐ xǐhuan shénme yùndòng?
What sports do you like?
spoken
运动对身体很好。
Yùndòng duì shēntǐ hěn hǎo.
Exercise is very good for the body.
neutral
他是一个有名的运动员。
Tā shì yí ge yǒumíng de yùndòngyuán.
He's a famous athlete.
neutral
Common phrases with 运动
Hear it in real Fluentide episodes
运动 appears in 3 podcast episodes at natural native speed, with full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
Synonyms
Don't confuse 运动 with
Shares 运 but means 'luck / fortune.' 运 has multiple senses; in 运动 it's 'movement,' in 运气 it's 'fortune.' Don't transfer the meaning.
活动 means 'activity / event' — broader than sports (a party, a meeting, a gathering can all be 活动). 运动 specifically means physical sport/exercise (or political/social movement).