营养 (yíng yǎng) — nutrition; nourishment

Definition

营养 is the noun for 'nutrition' itself — the substance or value food provides. 补 is the verb 'to supplement,' used when adding nutrition to the body.

noun
nutritionnourishment
Measure word · 种

Examples

  • 营养。
    Jūn héng de yíng yǎng duì jiàn kāng hěn zhòng yào.
    Balanced nutrition is very important for health.
  • 营养。
    Zhè zhǒng shū cài de yíng yǎng jià zhí hěn gāo.
    This kind of vegetable has high nutritional value.
  • ，营养。
    Tā shēng bìng le, xū yào bǔ chōng yíng yǎng.
    He is sick and needs to supplement his nutrition.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

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

营yíngnourish
养yǎngnourish

Both nourishing senses combine to give the idea of nutrition.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 營; 营 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
宮宮gōngpalace
Sound part声符shēngfú
熒
熒yíng營yíng
Same sound today

The traditional form 營 pairs 宮 (palace) with 熒 as a sound part, depicting a person working all night with a light on his house; the simplified 营 is a later abbreviation.

Open 营 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 養; 养 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 養 uses 羊 as a sound part and 食 as a meaning part.

Open 养 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5HSK 2.0 Level 5Fitness & Exercise

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