豆浆 (dòu jiāng) — soy milk | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Soy milk — a drink made from blended soybeans, usually served hot or cold at breakfast. It's a beverage, while 豆腐 is the solid bean curd you eat with meals.

noun

soy milk

Measure word · 杯

Examples

豆浆。
Wǒ měi tiān zǎo shàng hē yì bēi dòu jiāng.
I drink a cup of soy milk every morning.
豆浆？
Zhè bēi dòu jiāng shì rè de hái shì liáng de?
Is this cup of soy milk hot or cold?
豆浆。
Mā ma qù chāo shì mǎi le yí dài dòu jiāng.
Mom went to the supermarket and bought a bag of soy milk.

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.

浆jiāngliquid

豆 gives 'bean' and 浆 gives 'liquid', so 豆浆 is bean liquid.

Characters in this word

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

豆 originally drew some kind of container. It was borrowed for its sound to write the plant name, so the picture and the meaning are unrelated.

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 漿; 浆 is its simplified writing.

將水漿

Meaning part形符xíngfú

水水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

將

將jiāng漿jiāng

Same sound today

The traditional form 漿 uses 水 to show a liquid and 將 for the sound. The simplified 浆 is a later shorthand, so its shape is not the historical one.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 5 Beverages

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