胡椒粉 (hú jiāo fěn) — ground pepper, pepper powder

Definition

noun
ground pepperpepper powder

Examples

  • 胡椒粉，。
    Zuò tāng de shí hou jiā yì diǎn hú jiāo fěn, wèi dào huì gèng hǎo.
    Adding a little pepper powder when making soup will make it taste better.
  • 胡椒粉。
    Wǒ zài chāo shì mǎi le yì píng hú jiāo fěn.
    I bought a bottle of ground pepper at the supermarket.
  • 胡椒粉。
    Zhè dào cài xū yào fàng yì xiē hú jiāo fěn cái gòu là.
    This dish needs some pepper powder to be spicy enough.

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.

胡椒pepper
胡húforeign椒jiāopepper
偏正Modifier + head
粉fěnpowder

胡椒粉 names 胡椒 ground into 粉, a fine powder.

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
⺼Written in full as肉ròumeat
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ胡hú
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

胡 combines 古, which points to its sound, with ⺼ (肉), meaning meat or flesh.

Open 胡 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 椒 →

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
分
分fēn粉fěn
Same sound today

粉 pairs 米 (rice) with 分 for its sound. The rice part points to face powder made from rice.

Open 粉 →
Appears in
Flavors & Seasonings

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