麦片 (mài piàn) — oatmeal; breakfast cereal

Definition

noun
oatmealbreakfast cereal
Measure word · 袋

Examples

  • 麦片。
    Wǒ měi tiān zǎo shàng chī yì wǎn mài piàn.
    I eat a bowl of oatmeal every morning.
  • 麦片。
    Zhè zhǒng mài piàn jiā le jiān guǒ hé shuǐ guǒ.
    This cereal has nuts and fruit added.
  • 麦片。
    Tā mǎi le yì hé mài piàn dāng zǎo cān.
    He bought a box of cereal for breakfast.

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.

麦màigrain
片piànflake

麦 refers to grain and 片 to a flake or slice, so 麦片 is flaked grain cereal.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 麥; 麦 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
夊夊suīfootprint pointing down; to walk slowly
Sound part声符shēngfú
來
來lái麥mài
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

For 麦, the traditional form 麥 pairs 來, which gives the sound and once meant wheat, with 夊, a footprint pointing down for slow walking.

Open 麦 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 片 →
Appears in
Grains & Staples

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.