粟米 (sù mǐ) — foxtail millet (the plant, Setaria italica); hu…

Definition

In Mandarin Chinese, 粟米 is the formal/regional term for millet (the grain and plant), which in everyday speech is more commonly called 小米.

noun

foxtail millet (the plant, Setaria italica)husked millet (the grain, also called 小米)

粟米。
Zǎo shàng hē yì wǎn sù mǐ zhōu duì shēn tǐ hǎo.
Drinking a bowl of millet porridge in the morning is good for your health.
粟米。
Běi fāng hěn duō dì fāng dōu zhǒng sù mǐ.
Millet is grown in many places in the north.
粟米，。
sù mǐ De yíng yǎng jià zhí hěn gāo, hán yǒu fēng fù de wéi shēng sù.
Millet has high nutritional value and is rich in vitamins.

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.

粟 names millet and 米 names grain, giving the grain of the millet plant.

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

米米mǐrice

Sound part声符shēngfú

角

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

粟 shows 米 (rice) together with 角, which gave the sound. In ancient use it meant rice kernels with husk, while 米 meant rice without husk.

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.