流质 (liú zhì) — liquid food, liquid diet (semi-fluid consistency, often for medical reasons)

Definition

'流质' refers to liquid or semi-liquid food, usually a medical-diet term used when a patient cannot eat solid food after surgery or illness.

noun
liquid foodliquid diet (semi-fluid consistency, often for medical reasons)

Examples

  • 流质。
    Shǒu shù hòu tā zhǐ néng chī liú zhì shí wù.
    After surgery, he could only eat liquid food.
  • 流质。
    Yī shēng jiàn yì tā xiān chī jǐ tiān liú zhì.
    The doctor advised her to eat liquids for a few days first.
  • 流质。
    Zhè ge bìng rén xū yào dà liàng de liú zhì yíng yǎng.
    This patient needs a lot of liquid nutrition.

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.

流liúflowing
质zhìsubstance

流 means flowing and 质 means substance; together they describe a flowing substance such as liquid diet.

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
水水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
㐬
㐬㐬流liú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

流 has 水, water, and 㐬, which gives the sound. The water part matches meanings such as flow.

Open 流 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 質; 质 is its simplified writing.

  • 斦斦yín
  • 貝貝bèi

The traditional form 質 is made up of 貝 and 斦; this describes 質, not the simplified 质.

Open 质 →

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