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死亡率 (sǐ wáng lǜ) — death rate; mortality rate

Definition

noun
death ratemortality rate

Examples

  • 死亡率。
    Zhè ge guó jiā de sǐ wáng lǜ zhèng zài zhú nián xià jiàng.
    This country's mortality rate is decreasing year by year.
  • 死亡率。
    Xī yān huì xiǎn zhù tí gāo fèi ái de sǐ wáng lǜ.
    Smoking significantly increases the mortality rate of lung cancer.
  • ，死亡率。
    Yī liáo tiáo jiàn gǎi shàn hòu, yīng ér sǐ wáng lǜ jiàng dī le hěn duō.
    After medical conditions improved, the infant mortality rate dropped a lot.

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.

死亡death
死sǐdie亡wángperish
联合Coordinate
率lǜrate

死亡 combines dying and perishing, and 率 is a rate, so the sense is the rate of deaths.

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
歹歹dǎi
Sound part声符shēngfú
尸
尸shī死sǐ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

死 is built from 歹 and 尸: 歹 is the part tied to the meaning, and 尸 gives the sound.

Open 死 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

The shape originally marked a knife's cutting edge with a line.

Open 亡 →

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

率 was drawn as a bird-catching net, with a stick above and below. In the form described, the lower horizontal stroke is missing, so the whole shape represents a rope.

Open 率 →
Appears in
Illness & Symptoms

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