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精髓 (jīng suǐ) — marrow (of bones); essence, quintessence, pith

Definition

精髓 is the deepest 'essence' — the prized core of a tradition, art, or discipline. Among siblings, 精华 is the 'best part' of any collection, while 精神 is more abstract ('spirit, gist') and 本质 refers to underlying 'nature'.

noun
marrow (of bones)essencequintessencepith

Examples

  • 精髓。
    Zhè běn shū de jīng suǐ zài yú tā de sī xiǎng shēn dù.
    The essence of this book lies in its depth of thought.
  • 精髓。
    Yī shēng cóng bìng rén de gǔ tou zhōng tí qǔ le jīng suǐ.
    The doctor extracted marrow from the patient's bone.
  • 精髓。
    Zhōng guó chuán tǒng yì shù de jīng suǐ zài yú yì jìng.
    The essence of traditional Chinese art lies in its artistic conception.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

精jīngessence
髓suǐmarrow

「精」 and 「髓」 both point to an inner core, together meaning essence or quintessence.

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
米米mǐrice
Sound part声符shēngfú
青
青qīng精jīng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

精 pairs 米 (rice) with 青, which gives the sound; the character originally meant polished rice.

Open 精 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 髓 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Abstract Concepts

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