线粒体

線粒體
xiànlìtǐ
noun #31,673

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 mitochondrion
  2. 2 mitochondria

Examples

Xiànlìtǐ shì xìbāo de néngliàng gōngchǎng.
Mitochondria are the cell's powerhouses.
Xiànlìtǐ DNA zhǐ tōngguò mǔqīn yíchuán.
Mitochondrial DNA is inherited only through the mother.

Tips

memory
Beautiful calque: 线 'thread' + 'granule/grain' + 'body' = 'thread-grain body' — a direct translation of 'mitochondrion' (Greek: mitos 'thread' + chondrion 'small grain'). Chinese kept the imagery: a tiny granular body that often appears thread-like under a microscope.
culture
The pop-biology line '线粒体细胞发电厂' (mitochondria are the power plants of the cell) is just as common in Chinese textbooks as it is in English ones.

Stroke Order

线 xiàn