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
Easily confused
- 磨mólook-aliketo grind; to rub; to polish; to sharpen
- 没méisound-alike(adverb) not; used to negate 有 ('to have') or to negate past/habitual actions
- 摩mālook-alike(bound form) to rub, to stroke
- 枚méisound-alike(classifier) for small, flat, or round objects (coins, rings, badges, medals, pearls, etc.)
- 靡mílook-alike(bound form, literary) to be blown over, to be swept away
- 梅méisound-alikeplum (the fruit or tree)
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xíngshēngMost characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.
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
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