面皮 (miàn pí) — dumpling wrapper; thin sheet of dough used for jiaozi, wonton, etc.; face; skin of the face (often used in reference to thinness or thickness of skin)

Definition

Literally 'face-skin': the dough sense is a thin wheat sheet for dumplings/wontons. The figurative sense (often 脸皮 liǎnpí) means 'thickness of skin' — being thick- or thin-skinned in social situations.

noun
dumpling wrapperthin sheet of dough used for jiaozi, wonton, etc.faceskin of the face (often used in reference to thinness or thickness of skin)
Measure word · 张

Examples

  • 面皮，。
    Tā zhèng zài gǎn miàn pí, zhǔn bèi bāo jiǎo zi.
    She is rolling out the wrappers to make dumplings.
  • 面皮，。
    Tā miàn pí hěn báo, yì pī píng jiù liǎn hóng.
    He is thin-skinned; he blushes at any criticism.
  • 面皮，。
    Zhè zhǒng miàn pí hěn yǒu rèn xìng, bù róng yì pò.
    This type of wrapper is very resilient and not easy to tear.

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.

面miànflour/face
皮pískin

面 can mean flour or face, and 皮 is a thin skin, giving a dough sheet or facial skin.

Characters in this word

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

面 originally drew a man’s face, with one eye exaggerated; the horizontal stroke was added later.

Open 面 →

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

皮 shows a hand pulling fur off an animal pelt, with the pelt drawn at the upper left.

Open 皮 →

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