干货 (gān huò) — dried food; dried cargo; (slang) valuable, practical content or information

Definition

Literally 'dried food/cargo' (e.g. dried mushrooms, nuts). In online writing, it's slang for solid, useful content with no filler — the opposite of 废话.

noun
dried fooddried cargo(slang) valuablepractical content or information

Examples

  • 干货，。
    Mā ma mǎi le hěn duō gān huò, zhǔn bèi zuò tāng.
    Mom bought a lot of dried goods to make soup.
  • 干货，。
    Zhè piān bó kè quán shì gān huò, méi yǒu fèi huà.
    This blog post is full of valuable content, no fluff.
  • 干货。
    Chuán shàng de gān huò xū yào fáng shuǐ bāo zhuāng.
    The dried cargo on the ship needs waterproof packaging.

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.

干gāndried
货huògoods

干 (dried) + 货 (goods): dried goods; also useful content.

Characters in this word

The simplified 干 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (饼干, 干杯) it is 乾; in others (干, 干活儿) (干扰) it is 幹 or 干.

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 乾; 干 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
乙乙yǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
倝
倝gàn乾gān
Same sound today
Open 干 →

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 貨; 货 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèishell, money
Sound part声符shēngfú
化
化huà貨huò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 貨 pairs 化 (sound) with 貝 (shell, money) to write valuable goods; the simplified 货 is a shorthand.

Open 货 →

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