双胞胎
shuāng bāo tāi · HSK 7
twin
👶👶 双 double + 胞 womb + 胎 fetus = two fetuses sharing one womb = twins
双 means a pair, 胞 is the womb or placenta lining, and 胎 is the fetus. Put together they describe two babies grown from one pregnancy. Pronounced shuāng bāo tāi.
双 — two 又 (right hands) side by side
Originally written 雙 with two 隹 (short-tailed birds) over 又 (hand), depicting a pair of birds held in one hand, hence 'pair' or 'two'. The modern simplified form 双 keeps just two 又 hands side by side as a visual shorthand for 'a pair'. Meaning broadened to 'double' or 'even-numbered'.
胎 — flesh radical 月 (肉) + phonetic 台
A semantic-phonetic compound. The flesh radical 月 (a form of 肉) signals a meaning related to the body, while 台 supplies the sound. Originally referring to the womb or fetus in the womb, 胎 extended to mean embryo, and later by analogy the inner layer of objects like tires.