血球 (xuè qiú) — blood cell; corpuscle

Definition

noun
blood cellcorpuscle
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 血球。
    Yī shēng jiǎn chá le tā de xuè qiú.
    The doctor examined his blood cells.
  • 血球。
    Zhè zhǒng bìng dú huì pò huài rén tǐ nèi de xuè qiú.
    This virus destroys the blood cells in the human body.
  • 血球。
    xuè qiú De shēng chéng xū yào zú gòu de tiě hé wéi shēng sù.
    The production of blood cells requires sufficient iron and vitamins.

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.

血xuèblood
球qiúball

血 means blood and 球 denotes a small ball, together blood ball or corpuscle.

Characters in this word

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

  • 一一yīdrop of blood
  • 皿皿mǐncontainer

The shape shows 一, a drop of blood, inside 皿, a container, for blood held in a sacrificial vessel.

Open 血 →

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
玉玉yùjade
Sound part声符shēngfú
求
求qiú球qiú
Same sound today

球 is built from 玉, meaning jade, and 求, which gives the sound.

Open 球 →

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