胎儿
tāi ér · HSK 7
unborn child
🤰 胎 = embryo/womb + 儿 = child, so 胎儿 is the womb-child, the fetus
胎 (tāi) means embryo or womb, and 儿 (ér) means child; together they name the child still inside the womb. The 月 radical in 胎 marks it as body-flesh, a clue that the word is about the developing body before birth.
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.