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月饼 (yuè bing) — mooncake (traditional Chinese pastry eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival)

Definition

A round pastry traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. 比 饼 more specific: 饼 is the general word for flat cake/pastry, while 月饼 names this festival treat.

noun
mooncake (traditional Chinese pastry eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 月饼。
    Wǒ mǎi le jǐ kuài yuè bing sòng gěi péng you.
    I bought a few mooncakes to give to friends.
  • 月饼，。
    Zhè zhǒng yuè bing hěn hǎo chī, bú tài tián.
    This kind of mooncake is delicious and not too sweet.
  • ，月饼。
    Zhōng qiū jié de shí hou, wǒ men yì biān kàn yuè liang yì biān chī yuè bing.
    During the Mid-Autumn Festival, we watch the moon while eating mooncakes.

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.

月yuèmoon
饼bǐngpastry

月 names the moon, and 饼 names a pastry, so the word is a moon-themed cake.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

月 was drawn as a crescent moon, with the curved outline showing the moon’s shape.

Open 月 →

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 餅; 饼 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
飠Written in full as食shífood
Sound part声符shēngfú
并
并bìng餅bǐng
Same sound today

The traditional form 餅 pairs 飠 (food) with 并 for the sound; the simplified 饼 is a shorthand.

Open 饼 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 4

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