乳糖 (rǔ táng) — lactose

Definition

noun
lactose

Examples

  • 乳糖,。
    Yǒu xiē rén duì rǔ táng bú nài shòu, hē le niú nǎi huì dù zi bù shū fu.
    Some people are lactose intolerant and feel uncomfortable in their stomach after drinking milk.
  • 乳糖。
    Zhè zhǒng yào piàn de fǔ liào zhōng hán yǒu rǔ táng.
    The excipient of this tablet contains lactose.
  • 乳糖。
    Suān nǎi zài fā jiào guò chéng zhōng rǔ táng bèi fēn jiě chéng le rǔ suān.
    During fermentation, lactose in yogurt is broken down into lactic acid.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

乳rǔmilk

乳 means milk and 糖 means sugar, so it names sugar found in milk.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

乳 originally drew a kneeling woman holding and breastfeeding a child, matching its meanings of breast and milk.

Open 乳 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
米米mǐrice
Sound part声符shēngfú
唐
Same sound today

糖 is made from 米 (rice) and 唐, which gives the sound táng.

Open 糖 →
Appears in

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