卟 (bǔ): porphyrin (卟啉)

Meanings

卟啉是叶绿素和血红蛋白的重要组成部分。

Bǔlín shì yèlǜsù hé xuèhóng dànbái de zhòngyào zǔchéng bùfen.

Porphyrin is a key part of chlorophyll and hemoglobin.

化学家研究了卟吩环的结构。

Huàxuéjiā yánjiū le bǔfēn huán de jiégòu.

Chemists studied the structure of the porphin ring.

usage

卟 is a coined chemistry character, used only to transliterate organic compounds: 卟啉 (porphyrin) and 卟吩 (porphin).

phonetic

卜 bǔ

to divine; foretell

Supplies the sound bǔ exactly. It is the same character seen standing alone as 卜.

semantic

口 kǒu

mouth

The mouth element 口 has no real meaning here; it is a generic graphic part used to build this modern chemistry character around the sound.

卟 bǔ