驼 (tuó): hump

Meanings

1 hump
2 hunchbacked
3 camel

Characters

驼

tuó

hump; camel; hunchbacked

Examples

骆驼的驼峰可以储存脂肪。

Luòtuo de tuófēng kěyǐ chǔcún zhīfáng.

A camel's hump can store fat.

爷爷的背有点驼了。

Yéye de bèi yǒudiǎn tuó le.

Grandpa's back has become a bit hunched.

Tips

usage

As a bound form for camel, it appears in 骆驼 (luòtuo). On its own, it often describes a hunched/stooped posture: 驼背 (tuóbèi, hunchback/hunched back).

Components

radical

马 mǎ

horse

Left horse radical — the simplified form of 馬, stylised from a pictograph of a horse with mane and legs. Indexes 驼 in the hooved-mount family with 骡, 驴, 驹. A camel was classed alongside horses as a beast of burden, so the horse radical does the semantic work.

phonetic

它 tā

it; other

Right 它 supplies the sound tā → tuó through a regular shift. Pure phonetic; the modern pronoun meaning of 它 is irrelevant. Originally 它 depicted a snake, and the same phonetic shows up in 驰, 蛇, 沱 — all sharing the t- onset and similar vowel.