消化道 (xiāo huà dào) — digestive tract, alimentary canal

Definition

Technical anatomical term for the full digestive passage from mouth to anus. Used in medical and biology contexts; everyday speech more often says 肠胃 (stomach/intestines) for the general area.

noun
digestive tractalimentary canal
Measure word · 条

Examples

  • 消化道。
    Shí wù tōng guò xiāo huà dào bèi xiāo huà hé xī shōu.
    Food is digested and absorbed through the digestive tract.
  • 消化道，。
    Yī shēng jiǎn chá le tā de xiāo huà dào, fā xiàn méi yǒu wèn tí.
    The doctor examined his digestive tract and found no problems.
  • 消化道。
    Jiàn kāng de xiāo huà dào duì zhěng tǐ jiàn kāng fēi cháng zhòng yào.
    A healthy digestive tract is very important for overall health.

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.

消化digest
消xiāoconsume化huàtransform
联合Side by side
道dàotract

消 and 化 both mean dissolve or transform, and 道 is a tract, giving the tract for digestion.

Characters in this word

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
肖
肖xiào消xiāo
Same sound today

消 has 氵 (water) beside 肖. The water part connects to putting out or making something vanish, and 肖 gives the sound.

Open 消 →

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

化 shows two person figures, one upright and one upside down, to give the idea of reversal or change.

Open 化 →

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
行行xíngstreet
止止zhǐfoot
Sound part声符shēngfú
𩠐
首shǒu道dào
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

Early 道 showed a street 行, a foot 止, and a part written 首 or 𩠐; the right part of 行 later disappeared.

Open 道 →

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