乌龙茶 (wū lóng chá) — oolong tea | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

oolong tea

乌龙茶。
Wǒ xià wǔ xǐ huan pào yì bēi wū lóng chá lái tí shén.
I like to brew a cup of oolong tea in the afternoon to wake myself up.
乌龙茶。
Zhè zhǒng wū lóng chá chǎn zì fú jiàn wǔ yí shān.
This kind of oolong tea comes from Wuyi Mountain in Fujian.
乌龙茶。
Tā bāng wǒ zài diàn lǐ mǎi le yí dà bāo wū lóng chá.
She helped me buy a big bag of oolong tea at the store.

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.

乌龙black dragon

偏正Modifier + head

乌 gives black and 龙 gives dragon, and 茶 gives tea.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 烏; 乌 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 烏 is a drawing of a bird. The simplified 乌 is a later abbreviation.

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 龍; 龙 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 龍 originally drew a sacred creature with a large mouth and a snake-like body; the simplified 龙 is the form written here.

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

艹Written in full as艸cǎo

Sound part声符shēngfú

余

余yú茶chá

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 茶, the 艹 part marks a plant, and the 余 part gives the sound.