tāi
noun HSK 7-9 #7,045

Measure Word

一个

Meanings

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

Examples

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

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