假牙 (jiǎ yá) — denture, false tooth

Definition

noun
denturefalse tooth
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 假牙
    Tā nián jì dà le, dài le yí fù jiǎ yá.
    He is old and wears a set of dentures.
  • 假牙
    Wǒ de jiǎ yá yǒu diǎn sōng, xū yào qù tiáo zhěng yí xià.
    My dentures are a bit loose; I need to go get them adjusted.
  • 假牙
    Yī shēng jiàn yì tā měi tiān qīng xǐ jiǎ yá, bǎo chí wèi shēng.
    The doctor advises him to clean his dentures every day to maintain hygiene.

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.

jiǎfalse
tooth

假 means false and 牙 means tooth, so the word literally names a false tooth.

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
Written in full asrénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
jiǎjiǎ
Same sound today

假 pairs 亻 (person) with 叚, which gives the sound jiǎ.

Open 假 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 牙 →

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