面神经 (miàn shén jīng) — facial nerve | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

The seventh cranial nerve, controlling facial expression muscles. It is a formal medical/anatomical term, not used in everyday speech.

noun

facial nerve

Examples

面神经。
miàn shén jīng Kòng zhì zhe miàn bù de biǎo qíng jī.
The facial nerve controls the muscles of facial expression.
面神经。
Yī shēng jiǎn chá le tā de miàn shén jīng gōng néng.
The doctor examined his facial nerve function.
面神经。
miàn shén jīng Shòu sǔn kě néng dǎo zhì kǒu yǎn wāi xié.
Damage to the facial nerve may cause facial drooping.

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.

神经nerve

神shénspirit经jīngmeridian

偏正Modifier + head

面 means face and 神经 means nerve, so the term names the facial nerve.

Characters in this word

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

面 originally drew a man’s face, with one eye exaggerated; the horizontal stroke was added later.

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

示示shìgod; deity

Sound part声符shēngfú

申

申shēn神shén

Same sound today

The older form 申 drew lightning, which the ancients regarded as divine; 神 adds 示 (god/deity) to mark that meaning.

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 經; 经 is its simplified writing.

糹巠經

Meaning part形符xíngfú

糹Written in full as糸mìsilk; thread

Sound part声符shēngfú

巠

巠jīng經jīng

Same sound today

The traditional form 經 combines 糹 (silk; thread) with 巠, which gives the sound.

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