股骨 (gǔ gǔ) — femur (thighbone) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

femur (thighbone)

Measure word · 根

Examples

，股骨。
Tā bù xiǎo xīn shuāi dǎo le, bǎ gǔ gǔ shuāi gǔ zhé le.
He accidentally fell and fractured his femur.
股骨。
Yī shēng zài jiǎn chá tā de gǔ gǔ yǒu méi yǒu wèn tí.
The doctor is checking whether her femur has any issues.
股骨。
gǔ gǔ Shì rén tǐ zhōng zuì cháng zuì jiān qiáng de gǔ tou zhī yī.
The femur is one of the longest and strongest bones in the human body.

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.

“股” (thigh) tells which bone, and “骨” (bone) gives the body part.

Characters in this word

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

肉肉ròubody
夃夃gǔthigh

In 股, the left 肉 marks the body. The right side, now written 殳, comes from 夃, an old form for thigh, and gives the sound.

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

Sound part声符shēngfú

冎

冎guǎ骨gǔ

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The older form 冎 drew a bone; 肉, flesh, was added to make 骨.

Appears in

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