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焦糖 (jiāo táng) — caramel

Definition

noun
caramel

Examples

  • 焦糖。
    Wǒ zài kā fēi lǐ jiā le jiāo táng.
    I added caramel to my coffee.
  • 焦糖。
    Zhè zhǒng jiāo táng de yán sè hěn hǎo kàn.
    The color of this caramel is very nice.
  • 焦糖。
    Tā xǐ huan jiāo táng kǒu wèi de dàn gāo.
    She likes caramel-flavored cake.

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.

焦jiāoscorched
糖tángsugar

焦 as scorched and 糖 as sugar combine to mean caramel.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
隹隹zhuībird
Sound part声符shēngfú
小
小xiǎo焦jiāo
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The 焦 glyph first paired 隹 (bird) with 小 as a sound part. The 小 part later changed into a fire shape, and the character was then used for scorching.

Open 焦 →

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
米米mǐrice
Sound part声符shēngfú
唐
唐táng糖
Same sound today

糖 is made from 米 (rice) and 唐, which gives the sound táng.

Open 糖 →
Appears in
Flavors & Seasonings

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