胸椎

Mandarin · pinyin xiōng zhuī

Meanings

  1. thoracic vertebra
  2. the twelve thoracic vertebras behind the ribcage of humans and most mammals
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

胸
xiōng · breast, bosom, chest; thorax
椎
zhuī · hammer, mallet; vertebra
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1–1 · xiong1 zhui1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

2character links
Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

胸椎 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

  1. thoracic vertebra

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

胸椎 · xiong1 zhui1
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 90,542
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record胸椎 胸椎 [xiong1 zhui1] /thoracic vertebra/the twelve thoracic vertebras behind the ribcage of humans and most mammals/