àn
noun #9,631

Meanings

  1. 1 amine (organic nitrogen compound)

Characters

Examples

HSK 7-9
Àn lèi huàhéwù zài huàxué zhōng hěn chángjiàn.
Amine compounds are very common in chemistry.
HSK 7-9
Duōbā'àn shì yī zhǒng zhòngyào de shénjīng dìzhì.
Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter.

Tips

usage
is a technical chemistry term. You'll encounter it most often in 多巴胺 (dopamine), 组胺 (histamine), and 苯丙胺 (amphetamine). The character combines (flesh/body) and (peaceful, also phonetic).

Components

radical
ròu
meat; flesh (radical form)
Left meat-flesh radical (side-form of , visually identical to but a different semantic source) - the indexing radical. The radical choice reflects that amines are nitrogen compounds found in proteins and tissues. A modern chemistry coinage drawing on the body/flesh family alongside (bile) for chemical extracts.
phonetic
ān
peaceful
Right supplies the sound: ān → àn with tone shift, an exact rime match. The character was coined to transcribe the chemical term 'amine' (from ammonia, NH₃), with chosen as the closest-sounding native syllable. Same phonetic family: press, case, saddle.

Stroke Order

àn