米粉 (mǐ fěn) — rice flour; rice noodles (rice vermicelli)

Definition

米 (rice) + 粉 (powder/noodles) covers two foods: rice flour (ground uncooked rice, used in cooking and baking) and the rice vermicelli noodles made from it.

noun
rice flourrice noodles (rice vermicelli)

Examples

  • 米粉。
    Wǒ mǎi le yí dài mǐ fěn zuò diǎn xin.
    I bought a bag of rice flour to make snacks.
  • 米粉。
    Zhè jiā diàn de mǐ fěn hěn hǎo chī.
    The rice noodles at this shop are delicious.
  • 米粉。
    Mā ma yòng mǐ fěn hé jī dàn zuò le jiān bing.
    Mom made pancakes with rice flour and eggs.

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.

米mǐrice
粉fěnflour

米 means rice and 粉 means flour or noodles; the word denotes rice flour or rice noodles.

Characters in this word

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.

Open 米 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
米米mǐrice
Sound part声符shēngfú
分
分fēn粉fěn
Same sound today

粉 pairs 米 (rice) with 分 for its sound. The rice part points to face powder made from rice.

Open 粉 →

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