早衰 (zǎo shuāi) — premature aging (medical condition) | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

premature aging (medical condition)

Examples

早衰。
Zhè zhǒng jí bìng huì dǎo zhì zǎo shuāi.
This disease can cause premature aging.
早衰。
Yī shēng zhèng zài yán jiū zǎo shuāi de yuán yīn.
Doctors are researching the causes of premature aging.
早衰。
zǎo shuāi De zhì liáo fāng fǎ hái zài tàn suǒ zhōng.
The treatment for premature aging is still being explored.

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.

衰shuāidecline

早 means early, and 衰 means decline, giving aging too early.

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

日日rìsun

Sound part声符shēngfú

棗

棗zǎo早zǎo

Same sound today

The form 早 pairs 日 (sun) with 棗, which gives the sound; an earlier shape of 早 was a picture of an acorn.

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

The old form of 衰 pictures a palm-fiber raincoat, a garment later written with another character.

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