豌豆 (wān dòu) — garden pea, pea | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

garden peapea

Measure word · 颗

豌豆。
Wǒ mǎi le yì xiē wān dòu yòng lái zuò tāng.
I bought some peas to make soup.
豌豆，。
Zhè xiē wān dòu hěn xīn xiān, shì jīn tiān zǎo shàng zhāi de.
These peas are very fresh; they were picked this morning.
豌豆。
Hái zi men xǐ huan chī wān dòu hé hú luó bo.
Children like to eat peas and carrots.

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.

豌wānpea plant

豌 refers to the pea plant, and 豆 marks it as a legume, naming the garden pea.

Characters in this word

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

豆宛豌

Meaning part形符xíngfú

豆豆dòubean; pea

Sound part声符shēngfú

宛

Same sound today

豌 has 豆 (bean; pea) on the left and 宛 on the right, which gives the sound.

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.

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