核燃料 (hé rán liào) — nuclear fuel | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

nuclear fuel

Examples

核燃料。
hé rán liào Shì hé diàn zhàn zuì zhòng yào de cái liào.
Nuclear fuel is the most important material for nuclear power plants.
核燃料。
Zhè zhǒng hé rán liào de lì yòng lǜ hěn gāo.
This type of nuclear fuel has a very high utilization rate.
核燃料。
Tā men zhèng zài yán jiū xīn xíng hé rán liào.
They are researching new types of nuclear fuel.

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.

核hénucleus

燃料fuel

燃ránburn料liàomaterial

偏正Modifier + head

核 contributes the idea of atomic nucleus, 燃 contributes burning, and 料 contributes material.

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.

木亥核

Meaning part形符xíngfú

木木mùtree

Sound part声符shēngfú

亥

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

核 pairs 木, a tree, with 亥 to give its sound; it originally named a kind of tree, and its later meanings are borrowed.

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

火然燃

Meaning part形符xíngfú

火火huǒfire

Sound part声符shēngfú

然

然rán燃rán

Same sound today

燃 adds 火 (fire) to 然 to write “burn”; 然 supplied the sound, and 火 was added to make the fire meaning clear.

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

米斗料

米米mǐrice
斗斗dòudipper

料 combines 米 (rice) with 斗 (a dipper), showing rice being measured or gauged.

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