玉米饼 (yù mǐ bǐng) — corn cake; tortilla

Definition

noun

corn caketortilla

Measure word · 块

玉米饼。
Mā ma zuò de yù mǐ bǐng fēi cháng hǎo chī.
The corn cakes my mom makes are very delicious.
玉米饼。
Wǒ zuó tiān zài chāo shì mǎi le jǐ gè yù mǐ bǐng.
I bought a few corn cakes at the supermarket yesterday.
玉米饼。
Zhè zhǒng yù mǐ bǐng shì yòng yù mǐ miàn zuò de.
This kind of corn cake is made from corn flour.

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.

玉米corn

偏正Modifier + head

玉米 “corn” + 饼 “cake” names a flat cake made from corn.

Characters in this word

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

玉 was drawn as a ritual jade piece, or as jade pieces strung together, and was made distinct from 王 by adding a dot.

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

米 is a picture of rice kernels without husk, with the horizontal stroke as a bamboo sieve. It is unrelated to similar-looking grain characters.

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 餅; 饼 is its simplified writing.

飠并餅

Meaning part形符xíngfú

飠Written in full as食shífood

Sound part声符shēngfú

并

Same sound today

The traditional form 餅 pairs 飠 (food) with 并 for the sound; the simplified 饼 is a shorthand.

Appears in