肘关节 (zhǒu guān jiē) — elbow joint

Definition

noun
elbow joint

Examples

  • 肘关节。
    Tā dǎ lán qiú shí shāng le zhǒu guān jiē.
    He injured his elbow joint while playing basketball.
  • 肘关节。
    Yī shēng ràng wǒ duō huó dòng zhǒu guān jiē.
    The doctor told me to exercise my elbow joint more.
  • 肘关节。
    zhǒu guān jiē Téng tòng huì yǐng xiǎng xiě zì.
    Elbow joint pain can affect writing.

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.

肘zhǒuelbow
关节joint
关guānhinge节jiésegment
联合Side by side

肘 'elbow' and 关节 'joint' give the elbow joint.

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
肉肉ròu
Sound part声符shēngfú
寸
寸cùn肘zhǒu
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The old form of 肘 drew a hand with a line marking the elbow. Because it looked like 寸, 肉 was added to tell the two shapes apart.

Open 肘 →

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 關; 关 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
門門méndoor
Sound part声符shēngfú
𢇅
𢇅𢇅關guān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For 关, the traditional form 關 shows 門 as a door and 𢇅 as two wooden sticks locking it, with ring-like marks on top.

Open 关 →

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 節; 节 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
⺮Written in full as竹zhúbamboo
Sound part声符shēngfú
即
即jí節jié
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 節 pairs ⺮ (bamboo) with 即, which gives the sound; the bamboo part points to a node of bamboo. The simplified 节 is a later abbreviation.

Open 节 →

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