穴位 (xué wèi) — acupuncture point | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

acupuncture point

Measure word · 个

Easily confused

穴位。
Zhōng yī tōng guò cì jī xué wèi lái zhì liáo jí bìng.
Chinese medicine treats diseases by stimulating acupuncture points.
穴位。
Zhè ge xué wèi kě yǐ huǎn jiě jiān bǎng suān tòng.
This acupuncture point can relieve shoulder pain.
穴位。
Tā měi cì tóu téng dōu àn zhè ge xué wèi.
Every time he has a headache, he presses this acupoint.

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.

位wèiposition

穴 is a hole or point and 位 is a location, so 穴位 marks the location of an acupoint.

Characters in this word

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

穴 possibly comes from a picture of a cave entrance or a door flap, matching meanings such as cave and hole.

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

立

立lì位wèi

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

位 combines 人 (man), related to people, with 立, which gives the sound. It was often simply written as 立.

Appears in