胎

tāi
noun HSK 7-9 #7,045

Measure Word

一个胎 gè

Meanings

  1. 1 fetus; embryo
  2. 2 tire (of a wheel)
  3. 3 birth (as in which child)
  4. 4 measure word for pregnancies, births or litters

Examples

HSK 1
Zhè shì tā de dìyī tāi.
This is her first child.
HSK 6
Zhège lúntāi méi qì le.
This tire is flat.
HSK 7-9
Tā huái le shuāngbāotāi.
She is pregnant with twins.

Tips

usage
胎 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 月 (flesh/body) plus 台 (platform) - a fetus is like a body on a platform inside the womb.

Components

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

Stroke Order

胎 tāi