脊髓 (jǐ suǐ) — spinal cord | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

spinal cord

Measure word · 条

Examples

脊髓。
Chē huò dǎo zhì le tā de jǐ suǐ shòu sǔn.
The car accident caused damage to his spinal cord.
脊髓。
Yī shēng chéng gōng dì wán chéng le jǐ suǐ shǒu shù.
The doctor successfully completed the spinal cord surgery.
脊髓。
jǐ suǐ Lián jiē dà nǎo hé shēn tǐ.
The spinal cord connects the brain and the body.

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.

脊, spine, and 髓, marrow, together name the cord inside the spine.

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ròuflesh

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.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Appears in

Organs & Anatomy

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