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阴部 (yīn bù) — genitalia (formal/medical term)

Definition

noun
genitalia (formal/medical term)

Examples

  • 阴部。
    Yī shēng zǐ xì jiǎn chá le bìng rén de yīn bù.
    The doctor carefully examined the patient's genitalia.
  • 阴部。
    Zhè zhǒng jí bìng huì dǎo zhì yīn bù sào yǎng.
    This disease can cause itching of the genitalia.
  • 阴部。
    yīn bù De wèi shēng fēi cháng zhòng yào.
    Hygiene of the genitalia is very important.

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.

阴yīnprivate
部bùpart

The sense of '阴' (private) combines with '部' (part) to name the genital region.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 陰; 阴 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阜阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
侌
侌yīn陰yīn
Same sound today

The traditional form 陰 combines 阜, the meaning part, with 侌, the sound part. The simplified 阴 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the historical pieces.

Open 阴 →

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
邑邑yì
Sound part声符shēngfú
咅
咅pǒu部bù
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

部 pairs 咅, which gives the sound, with 邑. It originally named a place in today's Gansu.

Open 部 →
Appears in
Body Parts

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