牛排 (niú pái) — beefsteak | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

beefsteak

Measure word · 份

Examples

牛排。
Wǒ diǎn le yí fèn wǔ fēn shú de niú pái.
I ordered a medium-rare beefsteak.
牛排。
Zhè jiā cān tīng de niú pái fēi cháng yǒu míng.
This restaurant's beefsteak is very famous.
牛排。
Tā xǐ huan bǎ niú pái qiē chéng xiǎo kuài zài chī.
He likes to cut the beefsteak into small pieces before eating.

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.

牛 gives 'beef' and 排 gives 'slice', making a slice of beef.

Characters in this word

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

牛 is drawn as a bull's head, with two horns and two ears.

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

扌非排

Meaning part形符xíngfú

扌Written in full as手shǒuhand

Sound part声符shēngfú

非

非fēi排pái

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

排 uses 扌 (hand) to show arranging something with the hand, and 非 for the sound; this gives the sense of placing things in a line.

Appears in

Meat & Seafood 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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