肉酱 (ròu jiàng) — meat sauce; meat paste

Definition

noun

meat saucemeat paste

Measure word · 瓶

肉酱。
Wǒ xǐ huan chī yì dà lì ròu jiàng.
I like eating Italian meat sauce.
肉酱。
Zhè píng ròu jiàng shì yòng niú ròu zuò de.
This jar of meat sauce is made with beef.
肉酱。
Mā ma wǎng miàn tiáo lǐ jiā le ròu jiàng.
Mom added meat sauce to the noodles.

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.

酱jiàngsauce/paste

“肉” says what the paste is made from, and “酱” is the thick sauce or paste.

Characters in this word

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

The original shape of 肉 showed ribs of an animal’s torso, or simply a slice of meat.

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 醬; 酱 is its simplified writing.

將酉醬

Meaning part形符xíngfú

酉酉yǒudrink

Sound part声符shēngfú

將

將jiāng醬jiàng

Same sound today

The traditional form 醬 pairs 將, which suggests the sound, with 酉, a drink; the simplified 酱 is a later abbreviation.

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