Meaning
馄饨 refers to a traditional Chinese dumpling typically made with a thin wrapper encasing a meat or shrimp filling. Unlike 饺子 (jiǎozi), wontons are usually boiled in broth and served as soup. They are a popular dish throughout China, particularly in southern regions, and are commonly eaten for breakfast or as a snack.
Usage
This word is used both for the dumplings themselves and for the soup dish containing them. When ordering in a restaurant, people typically say 馄饨 to refer to wonton soup. In northern China, the term 馄饨 is standard, while some southern dialects use different names. It's a common street food and comfort food.
Examples
- 01早上我吃了一碗馄饨。.This morning I ate a bowl of wonton soup.
- 02这家店的虾仁馄饨特别好吃。.The shrimp wontons at this restaurant are especially delicious.
Characters
Measure words
- 碗一碗馄饨
- 个三个馄饨
Common collocations
- 馄饨面wonton noodle soup
- 一碗馄饨a bowl of wonton soup
- 鲜肉馄饨fresh pork wontons
- 虾仁馄饨shrimp wontons
Origin
The characters 馄饨 are phonetic compounds that don't carry independent semantic meaning. The word likely derives from dialectal pronunciations and became standardized in written Chinese to represent this particular type of dumpling.