荷尔蒙 (hé ěr méng) — hormone | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

hormone

Examples

荷尔蒙。
Yī shēng jiàn yì tā bǔ chōng yì xiē hé ěr méng.
The doctor suggested she supplement some hormones.
荷尔蒙。
Zhè zhǒng hé ěr méng duì qíng xù yǒu yǐng xiǎng.
This hormone has an effect on mood.
荷尔蒙。
Rén tǐ nèi de hé ěr méng shuǐ píng huì suí zhe nián líng biàn huà.
The body's hormone levels change with age.

Origin

Single-morpheme word

构词法gòucífǎ

音译yīnyìTransliteration

The characters spell the sound of a foreign word; their individual meanings play no part.

荷hé

尔ěr

蒙méng

The characters 荷, 尔, and 蒙 carry no meaning of their own here; 荷尔蒙 spells hormone.

Sound-only characters

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

艸艸cǎograss; plant

Sound part声符shēngfú

何

何hé荷hé

Same sound today

荷 has 艸, the grass/plant form, to show a plant, and 何 to give the sound.

Open 荷 →

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 爾; 尔 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 爾, simplified as 尔, originally drew cloth on a loom with crossing threads. It was borrowed for its sound to write “you,” so the picture is unrelated to that meaning.

Open 尔 →

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

艹冡蒙

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎograss

Sound part声符shēngfú

冡

冡měng蒙méng

Same sound today

蒙 combines 艹 (grass) with 冡, which supplies the sound.

Open 蒙 →

Appears in