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雌性 (cí xìng) — female (of a non-human species)

Definition

Scientific/bio term for the female sex of non-human animals and plants. Unlike 女/女性 (for people) or 母 (adjective for animals), 雌性 is a technical noun. Pair with 雄性 for the male counterpart.

noun
female (of a non-human species)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 雌性。
    Kē xué jiā yán jiū zhè zhǒng dòng wù de cí xìng xíng wéi.
    Scientists study the female behavior of this animal.
  • ，雌性。
    Zài fán zhí jì jié, cí xìng huì chǎn xià hěn duō luǎn.
    During breeding season, the female lays many eggs.
  • 雌性。
    Zhè zhǒng cí xìng niǎo de jiào shēng hěn xiǎng liàng.
    The call of this female bird is very loud.

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.

雌cífemale
性xìngsex/gender

雌 (female) specifies the kind of 性 (sex/gender), yielding 'female sex'.

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
隹隹zhuī
Sound part声符shēngfú
此
此cǐ雌cí
Same sound today

雌 is made of 此 and 隹. 此 gives the sound, and 隹 is the part connected to the meaning.

Open 雌 →

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
忄Written in full as心xīnheart
Sound part声符shēngfú
生
生shēng性xìng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

性 is built from 忄 (the heart) and 生 (a sound clue). The heart part connects the word to a person's inner nature or quality.

Open 性 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Biology

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