面 miàn
Simplified Chinese: 面
Traditional Chinese: 麵
Tone: 4 第四声
Pinyin: miàn
The Character:
I'm going to tackle a big one, 面 miàn which I am using here in the sense of Noodles. The character originally meant "Face" or "Side" but around China, you will usually see the character referring to noodles.
This post could easily take 10 years to write. I'm going to keep it as short as possible. The original character 麵 has lost some of its meaning in the simplified version 面. Gone are the side characters (called Radicals) which give it a deeper meaning.
麥 mài means "Wheat"
面 means "Face"
The radical on the left 麥 mài means wheat. Therefore, combined with the radical on the right side 面 miàn, which gives it its pronunciation, you have the old character 麵. The 面 radical alone is pronounced miàn, identical to the pronunciation of noodles.
Chinese will often include one or two simple radicals to convey the meaning with another denoting the pronunciation.
Taken together, it would have told Chinese readers "This is the miàn character which refers to 'Wheat.' Because there are only a few words with the pronunciation miàn and only one which refers to something related to wheat, Chinese readers would have known this character to mean "Noodles."
麥 and 麵 Explored Further
來 lái means "To come" or "Towards"
夂 means "Go"
面 means "Face"
I like to believe the traditional Chinese is expressing the idea "That which goes toward and comes away from a face." Because Mandarin Chinese comes from northern China, where noodles are more commonly eaten (rice is predominantly eaten in the southern and eastern portions of China), noodles were and are the staple carbohydrate among those who codified the Mandarin language.
Therefore - because Chinese can eat noodles breakfast, lunch, and dinner - when referring to the thing which "Comes and goes towards your face" it would have easy for Mandarin speakers to immediately think "Noodles!"
I am not sure if the first or second explanation is the correct one, these are just my thoughts. However, I am sure that this character can be found all over China:
In America, most know Chow Mein or Lo Mein. Mein is a corruption of miàn either as a result of Americans' poor pronunciation or the fact that many early Chinese immigrants were Cantonese speakers, which is similar, but not identical to today's Mandarin Chinese.
The "Mein" here refers to miàn or noodles.
*Additionally, everyone knows ramen noodles. "Ramen" is a Japanese term ra men. Ra is from the Chinese lā 拉 meaning "Pulled/Stretched". You'll see the character lā 拉 on doors, telling you to Pull.
You can see lā miàn 拉面 in the 3rd picture, referring to "Pulled noodles." They literally take a ball of dough, pull it, stretch it until it's springy, then throw it in the boiling water. It is interesting to watch.
In East Asian languages, L and R are interchangeable. It's why Team America made fun of Kim Jong Il by having him say "Herro?" It's because their pronunciation is neither L nor R. It's somewhere in the middle.
Try to say an L and R at the same time and you will get close to how they pronounce this sound.
Japanese "Ra men" is really Chinese "Lā miàn" or "Pulled Noodles."
Practice:
At your next visit to a Chinese restaurant, count the number of times you see the character 面 on the menu. I think you will be surprised. If you want to order noodles, tell them you want to eat miàn. They will then ask you which type of noodles you want. At that time, you can point to the menu to explain further. Be prepared for a big smile 😃 and thumbs up!
What characters do you want to learn next? Leave me a comment and let me know. I'm here to help YOU!
加油！⛽️🔥
-Michael McGillicuddy
Guangdong, China
Tell others you are learning Chinese! Chinese speakers will appreciate your efforts and give you as much help as you want!
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