汤勺 (tāng sháo) — soup spoon, soup ladle

Definition

noun
soup spoonsoup ladle
Measure word · 把

Examples

  • 汤勺。
    Qǐng ná yì bǎ tāng sháo lái shèng tāng.
    Please bring a soup ladle to serve the soup.
  • 汤勺。
    Zhè tào tāng sháo shì bú xiù gāng de.
    This set of soup spoons is stainless steel.
  • 汤勺。
    Hē tāng shí yòng tāng sháo bǐ yòng kuài zi fāng biàn.
    Using a soup spoon is more convenient than using chopsticks when drinking soup.

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.

汤tāngsoup
勺sháospoon

汤 means soup and 勺 means spoon; together they name a spoon used for soup.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 湯; 汤 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
氵Written in full as水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
昜
昜yáng湯tāng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For 汤, the shape explained is 湯: 氵 is water, and 昜 gives the sound.

Open 汤 →

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

勺 shows a mark for wine inside a ladle or spoon shape.

Open 勺 →

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