脊 (jí) — spine; backbone (of a human or animal); ridge (of a mountain or roof)
Definition
A bound morpheme meaning 'spine' (anatomy) and 'ridge' (of a mountain or roof). It almost always appears as part of compounds like 脊背, 脊柱, 山脊, not by itself.
bound form
spinebackbone (of a human or animal)ridge (of a mountain or roof)
Easily confused
- 集jísound-alike(noun) collection, anthology, collected works
- 及jísound-alike(conjunction) and; as well as (used in formal writing to connect nouns or noun phrases)
- 吉jísound-alikelucky, auspicious (bound morpheme used in compounds and surnames)
- 急jísound-alike(adjective) urgent; rapid; hurried
- 极jísound-alikeextremely
- 级jísound-alikelevel, grade, rank
Examples
- 。Shān jí shàng de xuě hěn bái.The snow on the mountain ridge is very white.
- 。Tā de jí gǔ shòu shāng le.His spine was injured.
- 。jí Liáng shì zhī chēng shēn tǐ de zhòng yào bù fen.The backbone is an important part supporting the body.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.
Sound part声符shēngfú
朿
朿cì脊jǐ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.
The original drawing of 脊 showed a fish spine; later 肉 (flesh) was added to point to the meaning, while the upper 朿 part supplied the sound.
Appears in
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