耗子药 (hào zǐ yào) — rat poison | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

rat poison

Measure word · 种

耗子药。
Wǒ zài chǒng wù diàn mǎi le yì bāo hào zǐ yào.
I bought a pack of rat poison at the pet store.
耗子药。
Bǎ hào zǐ yào fàng zài lǎo shǔ jīng cháng chū mò de dì fāng.
Put the rat poison in places where rats often appear.
耗子药，。
Zhè zhǒng hào zǐ yào duì rén chù yě yǒu dú, yào xiǎo xīn shǐ yòng.
This kind of rat poison is also toxic to humans and animals; handle with care.

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.

耗子rat

后缀Suffix

药yàomedicine

耗子 means rat, and 药 means medicine; together they refer to something used to kill rats.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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

子 is drawn as a baby with a large head, arms stretched out, and legs wrapped in a blanket.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 藥; 药 is its simplified writing.

艹樂藥

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎograss

Sound part声符shēngfú

樂

樂lè藥yào

Same sound today

In the traditional form 藥, 艹 shows grass and 樂 gives the sound; this story is about 藥, not about the simplified 药.