豆蔻 (dòu kòu) — cardamom or nutmeg (spice plant); (literary) a young girl in her early teens (as in 豆蔻年华)

Definition

Literally a spice plant (cardamom/nutmeg), but in literary Chinese 豆蔻年华 is a set phrase meaning 'a girl in her early teens.'

noun
cardamom or nutmeg (spice plant)(literary) a young girl in her early teens (as in 豆蔻年华)

Examples

  • 豆蔻。
    dòu kòu Shì pēng rèn zhōng cháng yòng de xiāng liào.
    Cardamom is a commonly used spice in cooking.
  • 豆蔻，。
    Tā zhèng zhí dòu kòu nián huá, qīng chūn měi lì.
    She is in her teenage years, youthful and beautiful.
  • 豆蔻。
    Gǔ dài shī rén cháng yòng dòu kòu lái bǐ yù shào nǚ.
    Ancient poets often used cardamom as a metaphor for young girls.

Origin

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

豆 originally drew some kind of container. It was borrowed for its sound to write the plant name, so the picture and the meaning are unrelated.

Open 豆 →

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
艹Written in full as艸cǎo
Sound part声符shēngfú
寇
寇kòu蔻kòu
Same sound today

In 蔻, the top 艹 is a plant part, and the lower 寇 gives the sound.

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