白血球 (bái xuè qiú) — white blood cell, leukocyte | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

white blood cellleukocyte

Examples

白血球。
bái xuè qiú Shì rén tǐ miǎn yì xì tǒng de zhòng yào zǔ chéng bù fen.
White blood cells are an important part of the human immune system.
白血球，。
Yī shēng jiǎn chá le tā de bái xuè qiú shù liàng, fā xiàn yǒu xiē piān dī.
The doctor checked his white blood cell count and found it was a bit low.
，白血球。
Gǎn rǎn shí, shēn tǐ huì chǎn shēng gèng duō de bái xuè qiú lái duì kàng bìng jūn.
During an infection, the body produces more white blood cells to fight the germs.

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.

血球blood cell

血xuèblood球qiúcell

偏正Modifier + head

The “白” gives white and “血球” means blood cell, together denoting a white blood cell.

Characters in this word

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

白 is thought to picture either an acorn or a human head.

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

一一yīdrop of blood
皿皿mǐncontainer

The shape shows 一, a drop of blood, inside 皿, a container, for blood held in a sacrificial vessel.

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

玉玉yùjade

Sound part声符shēngfú

求

求qiú球qiú

Same sound today

球 is built from 玉, meaning jade, and 求, which gives the sound.

Appears in

Biology Organs & Anatomy

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