tāi

fetus

classifier for litters (of puppies etc); padding (in clothing or bedding); womb carrying a fetus; (fig.) origin; source; (loanword) tire

flesh (⺼) + sound (台) = fetus in the womb

The flesh radical grounds the meaning in the body — specifically the womb carrying new life. 台 (tái) is purely phonetic, lending the sound tāi without contributing to the meaning.

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FleshSemantic
PlatformPhonetic

母狗一生了六只小狗。

mǔ gǒu yī tāi shēng le liù zhī xiǎo gǒu.

The mother dog gave birth to six puppies in one litter.

医生说儿发育得很健康。

yī shēng shuō tāi ér fā yù de hěn jiàn kāng.

The doctor said the fetus is developing very healthily.

Words with 胎

连体双胞胎

lián tǐ shuāng bāo tāi

conjoined twins

双胞胎

shuāng bāo tāi

twin

鬼胎

guǐ tāi

sinister design

龙凤胎

lóng fèng tāi

twins of mixed sex

一胎制

yī tāi zhì

the one-child policy

一胎化

yī tāi huà

practice of allowing only one child per family

三胞胎

sān bāo tāi

triplets

二胎

èr tāi

second pregnancy

保胎

bǎo tāi

to take measures to prevent miscarriage

备胎

bèi tāi

spare tire

内胎

nèi tāi

inner tube (of a tire)

受胎

shòu tāi

to become pregnant

More characters with ⺼