玉米糊 (yù mǐ hū) — corn porridge / cornmeal gruel

Definition

noun

corn porridge / cornmeal gruel

Measure word · 碗

玉米糊。
Wǒ zǎo shàng xǐ huan chī yù mǐ hū.
I like eating corn porridge in the morning.
玉米糊。
Tā zhǔ le yì wǎn yù mǐ hū dāng zǎo cān.
She cooked a bowl of corn porridge for breakfast.
玉米糊，。
Zhè zhǒng yù mǐ hū hěn chóu, wèi dào hěn hǎo.
This kind of corn porridge is very thick and tastes good.

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.

玉米corn

偏正Modifier + head

糊húporridge

玉米 names the grain, and 糊 gives the thick porridge sense.

Characters in this word

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

玉 was drawn as a ritual jade piece, or as jade pieces strung together, and was made distinct from 王 by adding a dot.

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

米 is a picture of rice kernels without husk, with the horizontal stroke as a bamboo sieve. It is unrelated to similar-looking grain characters.

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

米胡糊

Meaning part形符xíngfú

米米mǐrice

Sound part声符shēngfú

胡

Same sound today

糊 pairs 米 (rice) with 胡 (hú), which gives the sound. The 米 part relates to the meaning.