乳

rǔ
noun #5,342

Meanings

  1. 1 breast
  2. 2 milk
  3. 3 to nurse; to suckle

Examples

HSK 3
Niúrǔ hěn xīnxiān.
The cow's milk is very fresh.
HSK 6
Rǔzhìpǐn zài Zhōngguó yuèláiyuè shòu huānyíng.
Dairy products are becoming more and more popular in China.

Tips

usage
牛奶 is more common for milk in daily speech; 乳 is more formal.

Components

radical
乙 yǐ
second; hidden hook
Right hook stroke, the indexing radical 乙 (Kangxi #5) shown here in its variant tail-form. A single curled stroke that originally depicted a coiled, hidden shape. Same radical group as 九, 也, 乱, and 乳 itself. Pure structural role here, anchoring 乳 in the dictionary index.
semantic
孚 fú
hatch; nurture
Left 孚 is itself a vivid composition of 爪 (claw/hand) over 子 (child): a hand cradling an infant, the picture of nurturing. Carries the core 'feeding the young' meaning of 乳; same root sits in 浮 (float, like an egg over water) and 俘 (capture, hand grabbing person).

Stroke Order

乳 rǔ