尿酸 (niào suān) — uric acid | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

uric acid

尿酸。
Wǒ tǐ jiǎn shí fā xiàn niào suān piān gāo.
My medical check-up showed that my uric acid is high.
尿酸。
Hē tài duō pí jiǔ huì dǎo zhì niào suān shēng gāo.
Drinking too much beer can cause uric acid to rise.
，尿酸。
Yī shēng jiàn yì wǒ kòng zhì yǐn shí, jiǎn shǎo niào suān de shēng chéng.
The doctor advised me to control my diet and reduce the production of uric acid.

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.

The '尿' (urine) specifies the source or kind, and '酸' is acid, naming uric acid.

Characters in this word

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

Originally it drew a person urinating. The old form used 尾 (tail) and 水 (water); 尾 later simplified to 尸 (body), so 尿 now shows 尸 and 水.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

酉夋酸

Meaning part形符xíngfú

酉酉yǒu

Sound part声符shēngfú

夋

夋qūn酸suān

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

酸 is built from 酉 and 夋, and 夋 gives the sound.