焦耳 (Jiāo ěr) — joule (unit of energy) | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

焦耳 (Jiāo'ěr) is the Chinese name for the joule, the standard unit of energy in physics. Loanword from English; usually used with 个 as in 一个焦耳.

classifier

joule (unit of energy)

Examples

100焦耳。
Zhè ge diàn chí yǒu 100 Jiāo ěr de néng liàng.
This battery has 100 joules of energy.
焦耳。
Yì Jiāo ěr shì yí gè hěn xiǎo de néng liàng dān wèi.
One joule is a very small unit of energy.
焦耳。
Wǒ men zài wù lǐ kè shàng xué xí le Jiāo ěr zhè ge dān wèi.
We learned about the joule in physics class.

Origin

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

隹隹zhuībird

Sound part声符shēngfú

小

小xiǎo焦jiāo

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The 焦 glyph first paired 隹 (bird) with 小 as a sound part. The 小 part later changed into a fire shape, and the character was then used for scorching.

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

耳 is drawn as a picture of an ear.

Appears in

Energy & Power Units & Measurement

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