岩盐 (yán yán) — rock salt, halite

Definition

noun
rock salthalite
Easily confused

Examples

  • 岩盐。
    Zhè zhǒng yán yán kě yǐ yòng lái zuò cài.
    This kind of rock salt can be used for cooking.
  • 岩盐。
    Kuàng gōng men zài dì xià fā xiàn le dà kuài de yán yán.
    The miners found large pieces of rock salt underground.
  • 岩盐。
    yán yán Hé pǔ tōng shí yán de chéng fèn chà bu duō.
    Rock salt and ordinary table salt have similar ingredients.

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.

岩yánrock
盐yánsalt

岩 means rock and 盐 means salt, so 岩盐 refers to salt found in rock, such as halite.

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 巖; 岩 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
山山shānmountain
Sound part声符shēngfú
嚴
嚴yán巖yán
Same sound today

The traditional form 巖 combines 山 (mountain) with 嚴, a part that gives the sound; the simplified 岩 is a later shorthand, and its parts are not the original parts.

Open 岩 →

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 鹽; 盐 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
鹵鹵lǔsalt
Sound part声符shēngfú
監
監jiān鹽yán
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 鹽 uses 鹵 to show salt and 監 for the sound; the simplified 盐 is a later shorthand.

Open 盐 →

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