乳 rǔ breast
breast; nipples; milk; to suckle
How it came to be
In the oldest carvings, a mother holding a baby up to her breast to feed it. Later scribes redrew her as a hand over a child, with a hook beside it.
How it is used
- Breast / milk / to suckle - 哺乳 (bǔrǔ) to breastfeed, 乳制品 (rǔzhìpǐn) dairy products, 母乳 (mǔrǔ) breast milk.
- More formal/technical than 奶 (nǎi); 乳 heads medical and product terms, 奶 is the everyday spoken word.
- Also 'newborn/tender' by extension - 乳牙 (rǔyá) baby teeth.