試合（しあい、shiai）
- match / game

The Japanese word 試合 (しあい, shiai) means "match," "game," "contest," or "competition." It generally refers to an organized event where two or more individuals or teams compete against each other, often with rules and a specific objective, such as winning. The outcome of a 試合 is usually determined by skill, strategy, and sometimes luck. The context will tell you if the 試合 is for sports, a debate, or another form of competition.

⚫︎サッカーの試合 Translation: Soccer match ⚫︎明日の野球の試合］は何時からですか。 Translation: What time is tomorrow's baseball game? ⚫︎試合］に勝つために練習しました。 Translation: I practiced to win the match.

You can use 試合 in various situations to talk about competitive events. It's used for sports like soccer, baseball, tennis, and sumo wrestling. It can also refer to non-sporting competitions like debates or even competitive exams (although, in the latter case, other words like 試験 (shiken) - "exam" - are more common.) You should use this word when talking about the game itself, or when referring to a specific match, game, or competition. You can combine 試合 with other words to provide more detail such as the type of event, or the teams involved.

試合 is typically written in kanji as 試合, but you'll often see the reading in hiragana as しあい, especially for beginners. There are no variations in the okurigana for this word.

⚫︎ゲーム (geemu): Game (often used for Western-style games) ⚫︎対戦 (taisen): Contest, match, competition ⚫︎競技 (kyōgi): Competition, event (often for sports) ⚫︎コンテスト (kontesuto): Contest (usually for artistic or skill-based competition)

There aren't direct antonyms as 試合 is a concept that doesn't have an opposite. However, words or phrases that describe non-competitive situations could be considered related opposites. For example: ⚫︎練習 (renshū): Practice ⚫︎遊び (asobi): Play, leisure ⚫︎協力 (kyōryoku): Cooperation

今日のサッカーの試合］はとても面白かった。 ・Translation: Today's soccer match was very interesting. ・Explanation: This sentence describes the speaker's positive impression of the soccer game.

次の試合］に向けて、チーム全員で頑張ろう！ ・Translation: Let's all work hard as a team for the next match! ・Explanation: This sentence conveys encouragement and a shared goal for the upcoming game.

The word 試合 is a compound word. 試 (shi) means "to try" or "to test" and 合 (ai) means "to combine" or "to fit". Together, they suggest "to try together" or "to combine (skills, strengths)" - the essence of a competition.