焦黄 (jiāo huáng) — browned (of food, especially fried or toasted); sallow (of skin color, e.g. from illness)

Definition

An adjective-style result describing a browned or sallow color — used for food toasted/fried too long and for an unhealthy yellowish skin tone. Functions as a verb here mainly in resultative constructions (烤得焦黄).

verb
browned (of food, especially fried or toasted)sallow (of skin color, e.g. from illness)

Examples

  • 焦黄，。
    Miàn bāo kǎo dé jiāo huáng le, kàn qǐ lái hěn xiāng.
    The bread is toasted browned; it looks delicious.
  • 焦黄，。
    Tā zuì jìn liǎn sè jiāo huáng, kě néng shì bìng le.
    His complexion has been sallow lately; maybe he's sick.
  • ，焦黄。
    Chǎo cài shí huǒ tài dà, cài dōu chǎo dé jiāo huáng le.
    The heat was too high while stir-frying, and the vegetables got browned.

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
黄huángyellow

焦 (scorched) and 黄 (yellow) describe a browned or sallow yellow color.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 黃; 黄 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
田田tiánfield
Sound part声符shēngfú
炗
炗guāng黃huáng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 黃 pairs 田 (field) with 炗 (light), which gives the sound; the simplified 黄 is a shorthand and its parts are not historical components.

Open 黄 →

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