糙米 (cāo mǐ) — brown rice; unpolished rice

Definition

Brown / unpolished rice with the bran layer still on, contrasted with 白米 and 精米 (white, polished rice). Often framed as the healthier, more nutritious option.

noun
brown riceunpolished rice

Examples

  • 糙米，。
    Wǒ zuì jìn kāi shǐ chī cāo mǐ, yīn wèi tā bǐ bái mǐ gèng jiàn kāng.
    I recently started eating brown rice because it's healthier than white rice.
  • 糙米，糯。
    cāo mǐ Xū yào zhǔ gèng cháng shí jiān, cái néng biàn de ruǎn nuò.
    Brown rice needs to be cooked longer to become soft and sticky.
  • 糙米，。
    Chāo shì de cāo mǐ bǐ jīng mǐ guì yì xiē, dàn yíng yǎng jià zhí gèng gāo.
    Brown rice at the supermarket is a bit more expensive than polished rice, but its nutritional value is higher.

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.

糙cāorough
米mǐrice

糙 (unpolished) with 米 (rice) gives brown rice.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 糙 →

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.

Open 米 →

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