舌癌 (shé ái) — tongue cancer | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

tongue cancer

Examples

舌癌。
Yī shēng fā xiàn tā dé le shé ái.
The doctor found he has tongue cancer.
舌癌。
Dé shé ái de rén bù néng chī tài là de shí wù.
People with tongue cancer cannot eat food that is too spicy.
舌癌。
Yī shēng yòng shǒu shù lái zhì liáo shé ái.
The doctor uses surgery to treat tongue cancer.

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.

癌áicancer

'舌' (tongue) and '癌' (cancer) combine to mean cancer located in the tongue.

Characters in this word

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

舌 was drawn as a snake's forked tongue rising from an open mouth.

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

疒嵒癌

Meaning part形符xíngfú

疒疒nèdisease

Sound part声符shēngfú

嵒

嵒yán癌

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

癌 combines 疒 (disease) with 嵒, a component used for its sound.

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