动脉 (dòngmài): artery

Measure Word

一条动脉 tiáo

Meanings

1 artery

Characters

Literally 'moving vessel' — the blood vessels that pulse with the heartbeat, carrying blood away from the heart. The opposite is 静脉 (jìngmài, 'vein'), literally 'still vessel.'

Examples

动脉血管堵塞是很危险的。

Dòngmàixuè guǎn dǔsè shì hěn wēixiǎn de.

Arterial blockage is very dangerous.

长安街是北京的交通大动脉。

Cháng'ānjiē shì Běijīng de jiāotōng dàdòngmài.

Chang'an Avenue is a major traffic artery of Beijing.

Tips

memory

动脉 (artery) = 动 'moving' + 脉 'vessel.' 静脉 (vein) = 静 'still' + 脉 'vessel.' Arteries pulse (they move), veins don't (they're still). The Chinese names are actually more intuitive than the Latin-derived English ones.