玉米 (yù mǐ) — corn; maize | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

cornmaize

Measure word · 粒

Examples

玉米，。
Wǒ mǎi le yì gēn yù mǐ, huí jiā zhǔ zhe chī.
I bought an ear of corn and boiled it at home.
玉米。
Nóng mín zài tián lǐ zhǒng le hěn duō yù mǐ.
The farmers planted a lot of corn in the fields.
。
Zhè xiē yù mǐ lì hěn bǎo mǎn.
These corn kernels are very plump.

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.

玉 means jade and 米 means grain, giving the idea of jade-like grain.

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.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 5 HSK 2.0 Level 5 Grains & Staples Vegetables 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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