生殖器 (shēng zhí qì) — reproductive organ | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Formal/scientific term for 'reproductive organ,' standard in biology, medicine, and anatomy. It refers to both male and female reproductive organs together; for a single sex, the more everyday terms 阴茎 / 阴道 / 子宫 etc. are usually used.

noun

reproductive organ

Examples

生殖器。
Rén tǐ de shēng zhí qì yòng yú fán zhí.
The human reproductive organ is used for reproduction.
生殖器。
Yī shēng jiǎn chá le bìng rén de shēng zhí qì.
The doctor examined the patient's reproductive organ.
，生殖器。
Shēng wù kè shàng, wǒ men xué xí le shēng zhí qì de zhī shi.
In biology class, we learned about reproductive organs.

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.

生殖reproduction

生shēngbirth殖zhíbreed

联合Coordinate

生殖 'reproduction' and 器 'organ' form reproductive organ.

Characters in this word

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

屮屮chèbud
一一yīground

生 shows 屮 (a bud) above 一 (the ground), drawing a sprout coming up from the earth.

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

歹直殖

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

直

直zhí殖zhí

Same sound today

殖 is built from 歹 and 直, with 歹 giving the meaning and 直 giving the sound.

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

The origin of 器 is uncertain; one traditional account reads the whole shape as a scene of guarding over four vessels.

Appears in

Organs & Anatomy

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