取胜
qǔ shèng · HSK 7
to score a victory
🏆 取 take + 胜 victory = take the win, prevail over opponents
取 (qǔ) means to take or obtain; 胜 (shèng) means victory or to win. Together: take the victory, score a win. 胜 also shows up in 胜利 (victory) and 战胜 (defeat in battle).
取 — ear 耳 + hand 又
取 originally depicted a hand (又) grasping an ear (耳), referencing the ancient practice of soldiers cutting off enemies' left ears as proof of kills to claim rewards. The meaning broadened from 'seize/take by force' to the general sense of 'take, get, obtain' used today.
胜 — flesh 月 (肉) + 生 sheng phonetic
胜 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the 月 (originally 肉 'flesh/meat') element gave it an early meaning related to raw or rank-smelling meat, while 生 supplied the sound. In modern Chinese it was adopted as the simplified form of 勝, meaning 'to win' or 'to surpass', so today it almost always carries that victory sense.