咸味 (xián wèi) — salty taste; saltiness | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

salty tastesaltiness

Examples

咸味。
Zhè ge tāng de xián wèi hěn nóng.
The soup has a strong salty taste.
咸味。
Wǒ xǐ huan chī xián wèi de bǐng gān.
I like eating salty cookies.
咸味。
Zhè dào cài de xián wèi gāng gāng hǎo.
The saltiness of this dish is just right.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

咸 means salty, 味 means taste; together they denote saltiness.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 鹹; 咸 is its simplified writing.

鹵咸鹹

Meaning part形符xíngfú

鹵鹵lǔsalt

Sound part声符shēngfú

咸

咸xián鹹xián

Same sound today

The traditional form 鹹 pairs 鹵 (salt) with 咸 as a sound part; the simplified 咸 is a shorthand, and its parts are not the historical components.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

口未味

Meaning part形符xíngfú

口口kǒumouth

Sound part声符shēngfú

未

未wèi味wèi

Same sound today

味 combines 口 (mouth) with 未, which gives the sound wèi; the mouth part relates to taste.

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.