The doctor said there was a problem with her lumbar vertebra.
Tips
usage
椎 is a bound form in anatomical terms: 颈椎 (cervical vertebra), 胸椎 (thoracic vertebra), 腰椎 (lumbar vertebra). An older reading chuí meant a wooden mallet, but that sense is now written with 槌 or 捶 instead.
Left tree radical, the indexing radical, a pictograph of a tree. It marks the original sense of 椎 as a wooden mallet or club; the modern anatomical 'vertebra' meaning was extended from the bony, knob-shaped resemblance. Wood-tool family: 桥, 板, 棒.
Right 隹 supplies the sound zhuī exactly, a pictograph of a short-tailed bird. Pure phonetic role here. Same phonetic family: 锥 (awl), 推 (push), 堆 (pile). The 锥 pairing is mnemonic: both are knobby, hammer-shaped objects.
