农药 (nóng yào) — agricultural chemical; pesticide

Definition

noun

agricultural chemicalpesticide

Examples

农药。
Nóng mín zài zhòng zhí guò chéng zhōng yào hé lǐ shǐ yòng nóng yào.
Farmers should use pesticides reasonably during the planting process.
农药。
Zhè zhǒng shū cài de nóng yào cán liú liàng fú hé guó jiā biāo zhǔn.
The pesticide residue level of this vegetable meets national standards.
农药。
Yuè lái yuè duō de xiāo fèi zhě xuǎn zé gòu mǎi wú nóng yào de yǒu jī shí pǐn.
More and more consumers choose to buy organic food with no pesticides.

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.

农nóngagriculture

药yàochemical/medicine

农 refers to farming and 药 to a chemical preparation, so it names an agricultural chemical.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 農; 农 is its simplified writing.

林林línvegetation
辰辰chénhoe

The traditional form 農 comes from 林 (vegetation) and 辰 (a hoe), showing a hoe among vegetation to remove weeds; the simplified 农 is a later abbreviation.

Open 农 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 藥; 药 is its simplified writing.

艹樂藥

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎograss

Sound part声符shēngfú

樂

樂lè藥yào

Same sound today

In the traditional form 藥, 艹 shows grass and 樂 gives the sound; this story is about 藥, not about the simplified 药.

Open 药 →