肽 (tài): peptide

Meanings

1 peptide
2 a chain of amino acids linked by peptide bonds

Characters

肽

tài

peptide

Examples

胶原蛋白是由多条肽链组成的。

Jiāoyuán dànbái shì yóu duō tiáo tài liàn zǔchéng de.

Collagen is made up of multiple peptide chains.

二肽是由两个氨基酸组成的最简单的肽。

Èr tài shì yóu liǎng gè ānjīsuān zǔchéng de zuì jiǎndān de tài.

A dipeptide is the simplest peptide, made up of two amino acids.

Tips

memory

肽 is a scientific character: the 月 (meat/flesh radical) on the left signals it relates to biological matter, and 太 on the right gives the pronunciation. Peptides are literally biological 'flesh building blocks'.

Components

radical

⺼ ròu

meat; flesh (left-side radical of 肉)

Left meat-flesh radical - the side-form of 肉, not the moon 月 it visually mimics. It marks 肽 as belonging to the body / biochemistry family alongside 胺 amine, 肪 fat, 胞 cell, 肌 muscle. Modern chemists chose this radical so peptides read as "flesh-stuff."

phonetic

太 tài

great; too; very

Right 太 supplies the sound tài exactly - no drift. The character was coined to name peptides, transliterating the "-tide" of "peptide" with 太 as a clean phonetic match. A modern, science-driven coinage rather than a classical character.