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鸡肉 (jī ròu) — chicken meat

Definition

noun
chicken meat
Measure word · 块

Examples

  • 鸡肉。
    Wǒ mā ma zuò de jī ròu hěn hǎo chī.
    The chicken meat my mom makes is delicious.
  • 鸡肉。
    Zhè dào cài yòng de shì xīn xiān jī ròu.
    This dish uses fresh chicken meat.
  • 鸡肉。
    Chāo shì lǐ de jī ròu jīn tiān dǎ zhé.
    The chicken meat in the supermarket is on sale today.

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.

鸡jīchicken
肉ròumeat

鸡 gives chicken, and 肉 gives meat, so it names the meat of a chicken.

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 雞; 鸡 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
隹隹zhuīshort-tailed bird
Sound part声符shēngfú
奚
奚xī雞jī
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 雞 pairs 奚, which gives the sound, with 隹, a short-tailed bird. The simplified 鸡 is a later shorthand, and its right side is not the historical 奚.

Open 鸡 →

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

The original shape of 肉 showed ribs of an animal’s torso, or simply a slice of meat.

Open 肉 →
Appears in
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