毛孩 (máo hái) — hairy child (child born with excessive hair over the body)

Definition

Literally 'hair child' — refers to a child born with abnormal body hair. Note 毛 means 'fur/hair' on people or animals, not 'hair' in the everyday sense (which is 头发).

noun
hairy child (child born with excessive hair over the body)
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 毛孩
    Nà ge máo hái chū shēng shí quán shēn dōu zhǎng mǎn le hēi sè de máo fà.
    That hairy child was born covered in black hair all over the body.
  • 毛孩
    Yī shēng zhèng zài duì zhè ge máo hái de jī yīn jìn xíng xiáng xì fēn xī.
    Doctors are conducting a detailed genetic analysis on this hairy child.
  • 毛孩
    Hěn duō kē xué jiā dōu duì máo hái xiàn xiàng chǎn shēng le nóng hòu de xìng qù.
    Many scientists have developed a strong interest in the phenomenon of hairy children.

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.

háichild

“毛” means hair, and “孩” means child, so it refers to a child covered with hair.

Characters in this word

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

毛 is drawn as a feather or hair, with its strokes tracing the shape of the feather or hair.

Open 毛 →

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
Sound part声符shēngfú
hàihái
Same sound today

In 孩, the left part 子 shows a child, while the right part 亥 supplies the sound.

Open 孩 →

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