酸乳 (suān rǔ) — yogurt | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

yogurt

Measure word · 杯

酸乳。
Wǒ měi tiān zǎo shàng hē yì bēi suān rǔ.
I drink a cup of yogurt every morning.
酸乳。
Zhè zhǒng suān rǔ de wèi dào hěn xīn xiān.
This kind of yogurt tastes very fresh.
酸乳。
Chāo shì lǐ de suān rǔ zhǒng lèi hěn duō.
There are many kinds of yogurt in the supermarket.

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.

酸 means sour and 乳 means milk, so the word names sour milk, i.e. yogurt.

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.

酉夋酸

Meaning part形符xíngfú

酉酉yǒu

Sound part声符shēngfú

夋

夋qūn酸suān

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

酸 is built from 酉 and 夋, and 夋 gives the sound.

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

乳 originally drew a kneeling woman holding and breastfeeding a child, matching its meanings of breast and milk.