保健品 (bǎo jiàn pǐn) — health product; dietary supplement

Definition

noun
health productdietary supplement
Measure word · 种

Examples

  • 保健品。
    Mā ma měi tiān dōu huì chī yì xiē bǎo jiàn pǐn.
    Mom takes some health supplements every day.
  • 保健品。
    Zhè jiā diàn mài de bǎo jiàn pǐn zhǒng lèi hěn duō.
    This store sells a wide variety of health products.
  • 保健品。
    Yī shēng jiàn yì tā chī yì xiē bǎo jiàn pǐn lái zēng qiáng miǎn yì lì.
    The doctor advised him to take some health supplements to boost his immunity.

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.

保健protect health
保bǎoprotect健jiànhealth
动宾Verb + object
品pǐnproduct

保健 (protect health) specifies the sort of 品 (product).

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

保 originally showed a person 人 carrying a child 子 on their back, which led to the sense of protecting.

Open 保 →

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
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
建
建jiàn健jiàn
Same sound today

The left part 亻 depicts a person, and the right part 建 gives the sound.

Open 健 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

品 repeats the same simple shape three times, representing various objects.

Open 品 →

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