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乳汁 (rǔ zhī) — breast milk; milk from a mammal; (botany) latex; milky sap from a plant

Definition

Literary or scientific term meaning 'milk' (the sense most learners meet) and also 'latex' — the milky sap plants secrete when cut. Reach for 奶 / 牛奶 in everyday speech about milk.

noun
breast milkmilk from a mammal(botany) latexmilky sap from a plant

Examples

  • 乳汁。
    Mǔ qīn de rǔ zhī fù hán yīng ér suǒ xū de yíng yǎng.
    Mother's milk is rich in the nutrients that infants need.
  • 乳汁。
    Xiàng jiāo shù liú chū de rǔ zhī kě yǐ jiā gōng chéng xiàng jiāo zhì pǐn.
    The latex that flows from rubber trees can be processed into rubber products.
  • 乳汁。
    Zhè zhǒng zhí wù yè piàn shòu sǔn hòu huì fēn mì bái sè rǔ zhī.
    When the leaves of this plant are damaged, it secretes white latex.

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.

乳rǔmilk/breast
汁zhīliquid

乳 (milk/breast) combines with 汁 (liquid) to mean milky sap.

Characters in this word

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

乳 originally drew a kneeling woman holding and breastfeeding a child, matching its meanings of breast and milk.

Open 乳 →

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
十
十shí汁zhī(r)
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

汁 has 氵, a form of 水, on the left and 十 on the right. The water part shows it is about a liquid, and 十 gives the sound.

Open 汁 →
Appears in
BiologyFood (General)

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