有毒 (yǒu dú) — poisonous, toxic | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

adjective

poisonoustoxic

Examples

有毒，。
Zhè zhǒng zhí wù yǒu dú, bù néng chī.
This plant is poisonous, you can't eat it.
有毒，。
Gōng chǎng pái fàng de fèi qì yǒu dú, duì jiàn kāng yǒu hài.
The exhaust gas from the factory is toxic and harmful to health.
有毒，。
Nà tiáo shé yǒu dú, tā bèi yǎo shāng le.
That snake is poisonous; he was bitten.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

有yǒuhave

毒dúpoison

'有' gives having and '毒' gives poison, so it describes something as having poison.

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

肉肉ròumeat

Sound part声符shēngfú

又

又yòu有yǒu

Same sound today

The form 有 combines 又, used for its sound, with a shape from 肉, 'meat'; the hand-holding-meat story is a folk explanation, not shown in the oldest shape.

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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

屮屮chèvegetation

Sound part声符shēngfú

毐

毐ǎi毒dú

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

毒 pairs 屮, a plant part, with 毐 as a sound part; this form was used for a poisonous plant.

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Appears in

Safety & Danger