小肠 (xiǎo cháng) — small intestine | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

small intestine

Measure word · 段

小肠。
Shí wù zài xiǎo cháng zhōng bèi xiāo huà hé xī shōu.
Food is digested and absorbed in the small intestine.
小肠。
Yī shēng shuō tā xiǎo cháng yǒu xiē yán zhèng.
The doctor said he has some inflammation in his small intestine.
小肠。
xiǎo cháng De cháng dù yuē wèi wǔ dào qī mǐ.
The small intestine is about five to seven meters long.

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.

小 marks the intestine as small, and 肠 names the intestinal tube.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

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 腸; 肠 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

昜

昜yáng腸cháng

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 腸 pairs 肉, the body, with 昜, which gives the sound; the simplified 肠 is a later shorthand.

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