About
The character 肟 is a modern chemical character, a phono-semantic compound. Its semantic radical, 月, normally means 'flesh' or body parts, but in modern scientific nomenclature it is often repurposed to indicate organic compounds. The phonetic component is 亏. The character was devised during the systematic development of Chinese chemical terms to translate the English word oxime, which designates a class of organic compounds containing a nitrogen-oxygen bond. Because it was created recently for a highly specialized purpose, 肟 does not have a long historical evolution or varied everyday usage like classical characters; its meaning is confined entirely to chemistry, where it denotes that molecular structure.
Report an issue
Flag incorrect definitions, examples, etymology, etc.