酵素 (jiào sù) — (noun) enzyme (in biology and health products); (noun) ferment (substance causing fermentation)

Definition

In modern Chinese, 酵素 most often means 'enzyme' — the biological catalyst and the active ingredient in health/digestive products. The older sense of 'ferment' (substance causing fermentation) is now rare.

noun
enzyme (in biology and health products)ferment (substance causing fermentation)

Examples

  • 酵素。
    Zhè zhǒng jiào sù kě yǐ bāng zhù xiāo huà dàn bái zhì.
    This enzyme can help digest proteins.
  • 酵素。
    Tā měi tiān hē yì bēi hán jiào sù de yǐn liào lái tiáo lǐ cháng wèi.
    She drinks a glass of beverage containing enzymes every day to regulate her digestion.
  • 酵素。
    Fā jiào guò chéng zhōng chǎn shēng de jiào sù jiā sù le huà xué fǎn yìng.
    The ferment produced during the fermentation process accelerates the chemical reaction.

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.

酵jiàofermentation
素sùsubstance

酵 points to fermentation and 素 to a substance, giving a fermenting substance or enzyme.

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
酉酉yǒu
Sound part声符shēngfú
孝
孝xiào酵jiào
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

酵 pairs 酉, a vessel for making drink, with 孝, which gives the sound; 孝’s ‘young + old’ parts also hint at aging in the vessel, as fermentation does.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 素 came from a picture of hands braiding thread.

Open 素 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.