聚酯 (jù zhǐ) — polyester

Definition

noun
polyester

Examples

  • 聚酯。
    Zhè jiàn yī fu shì jù zhǐ zuò de.
    This piece of clothing is made of polyester.
  • 聚酯。
    jù zhǐ Miàn liào bù róng yì qǐ zhòu.
    Polyester fabric is not easy to wrinkle.
  • 聚酯。
    Hěn duō yùn dòng fú dōu hán yǒu jù zhǐ chéng fèn.
    Many sportswear items contain polyester.

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.

聚jùpolymer
酯zhǐester

聚 means polymerized and 酯 means ester, so together they describe a polymer based on ester units.

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
乑乑yínthree men
Sound part声符shēngfú
取
取qǔ聚jù
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

聚 is built from 取, which gives the sound, and 乑, drawn as three men, to show people coming together.

Open 聚 →

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
酉酉yǒuoxygenated functional group
Sound part声符shēngfú
旨
旨zhǐ酯zhǐ
Same sound today

The left 酉 part marks it as an oxygenated organic compound, and the right 旨 part gives the sound.

Open 酯 →

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