tāi
noun HSK 7-9 #7,045

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 fetus; embryo
  2. 2 tire (of a wheel)
  3. 3 birth (as in which child)

Examples

HSK 1
Zhè shì tā de dìyī tāi.
This is her first child.
HSK 4
Zhège lúntāi méi qì le.
This tire is flat.
HSK 7-9
Tā huái le shuāngbāotāi.
She is pregnant with twins.

Tips

usage
has two main uses: biological (fetus/embryo, as in 胎儿 fetus, 怀胎 pregnancy) and mechanical (tire, as in 轮胎 wheel tire). Context makes the meaning clear.
memory
The radical (flesh/body) plus (platform) - a fetus is like a body on a platform inside the womb.

Components

radical
ròu
flesh; body (left-side form of 肉)
Flesh radical on the left - visually identical to moon but historically distinct, the side-form of . Indexes in the body / anatomy family alongside chest, liver, organ, face, intestine. A is a fetus or womb-lining - pure flesh, hence the meat-radical anchor.
phonetic
tái
platform; (here phonetic)
Right side supplies the sound: tái → tāi with only tone shift. itself has multiple readings (yí pleased, tái platform); here the tāi-family pinyin matches. Same phonetic also gives tái (moss), tái (lift), dài (idle), shǐ (begin) - a wide phonetic family unified by the *t-/*sh- onset alternations.

Stroke Order

tāi