面汤 (miàn shāng) — noodle soup (noodles served in broth); water le…

Definition

面汤 refers to noodle soup (a dish of noodles in broth) and also to the starchy water left after boiling noodles, often kept as a soup base.

noun

noodle soup (noodles served in broth)water left after boiling noodles (used in cooking)

Measure word · 碗

面汤，。
Wǒ zhōng wǔ chī le yì wǎn miàn shāng, wèi dào hěn hǎo.
I had a bowl of noodle soup for lunch; it tasted great.
面汤，。
Zhè zhǒng miàn shāng shì yòng jī tāng zuò de, hěn xiān.
This kind of noodle soup is made with chicken broth and is very savory.
面汤，。
Zhǔ wán miàn tiáo de miàn shāng bié dào diào, kě yǐ dāng tāng dǐ.
Don't throw away the noodle water after boiling the noodles; you can use it as a soup base.

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.

面 means noodles and 汤 means soup, so the word denotes noodle soup.

Characters in this word

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

面 originally drew a man’s face, with one eye exaggerated; the horizontal stroke was added later.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 湯; 汤 is its simplified writing.

氵昜湯

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

昜

昜yáng湯tāng

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

For 汤, the shape explained is 湯: 氵 is water, and 昜 gives the sound.