TongTong
Sign in

胚胎 (pēi tāi) — embryo

Definition

Embryo: the very early stage of a developing organism (before it becomes a fetus). Distinguish from 胎儿 (later fetal stage) and 胎 (naked-character / classifier, often for animal litters).

noun
embryo
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 胚胎。
    Rén lèi pēi tāi de zǎo qī fā yù fēi cháng xùn sù.
    Human embryos develop very rapidly in the early stages.
  • 胚胎。
    Kē xué jiā chéng gōng péi yù le rén gōng pēi tāi.
    Scientists successfully cultivated artificial embryos.
  • 胚胎。
    Zhè ge pēi tāi zài mǔ tǐ zhōng jiàn kāng chéng zhǎng.
    This embryo is growing healthily in the mother's body.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

胚pēiembryo
胎tāifetus

胚 and 胎 both refer to an early developing organism, together denoting an embryo.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 胚 →

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
⺼Written in full as肉ròu
Sound part声符shēngfú
台
台tái胎tāi
Same sound today

胎 is formed from ⺼ (written in full as 肉) and 台, which gives the sound.

Open 胎 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Biology

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.