母猪 (mǔ zhū) — sow (adult female pig)

Definition

noun
sow (adult female pig)
Measure word · 头

Examples

  • 母猪。
    Nóng chǎng lǐ yǒu wǔ shí tóu mǔ zhū.
    There are fifty sows on the farm.
  • 母猪。
    Zhè tóu mǔ zhū qù nián shēng le shí èr zhī xiǎo zhū.
    This sow gave birth to twelve piglets last year.
  • 母猪。
    mǔ zhū Xū yào chōng zú de yíng yǎng cái néng jiàn kāng fán zhí.
    Sows need adequate nutrition to breed healthily.

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.

母mǔfemale
猪zhūpig

母 marks the sex, and 猪 is the animal: a female pig.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 母 →

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
犭Written in full as犬quǎndog
Sound part声符shēngfú
者
者zhě猪zhū
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

猪 combines 犭, a dog sign, with 者 as a sound part.

Open 猪 →

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