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糜 (méi) — (bound form) gruel, porridge; (bound form) spoiled, ruined

Definition

糜 (méi) is a literary bound morpheme — it almost always appears inside compounds, not alone. In 糜烂 it means 'rotted/ruined'; in 糜费 it means 'wasteful'; in 糜粥 it means 'porridge/gruel'.

bound form
gruelporridgespoiledruined

Examples

  • 。
    Zhè piàn tǔ dì yǐ jīng méi làn bù kān.
    This land has become rotten and beyond repair.
  • 糜。
    Tā yīn wèi méi fèi wú dù ér pò chǎn.
    He went bankrupt because of excessive wastefulness.
  • 糜。
    Zhè zhǒng méi zhōu hěn shì hé bìng rén shí yòng.
    This kind of gruel is very suitable for sick people.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

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

糜 pairs 米 (rice) with 麻, which gives the sound. The 米 part marks the character as related to rice or grain foods.

Appears in
Food (General)

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