颚 (è): jaw

Meanings

1 jaw
2 mandible
3 maxilla

Characters

颚

è

jaw

Examples

鳄鱼的颚非常有力。

Èyú de è fēicháng yǒulì.

A crocodile's jaw is extremely powerful.

医生检查了患者的下颚。

Yīshēng jiǎnchá le huànzhě de xià'è.

The doctor examined the patient's lower jaw.

Tips

usage

颚 refers to the jaw structure. 上颚 is the upper jaw (maxilla) and 下颚 is the lower jaw (mandible).

Components

radical

页 yè

head; page (radical)

Right 页 — head radical, originally a full-face profile of a person with prominent features. Indexes anatomical and head-region chars (额 forehead, 颈 neck, 颊 cheek). In 颚 it locates the entry firmly in the head/face region: the jaw, the bony framework of the mouth.

phonetic

咢 è

startled cry (here phonetic)

Left 咢 — two mouths over a hanging banner, originally an alarmed shout. Supplies the sound è directly with no shift. The same phonetic appears in 鄂 (the abbreviation for Hubei province), 锷 sword edge, 萼 calyx — a tight phonetic series all reading è in modern Mandarin.