和 (huó): to combine a powdery substance…

Meanings

1 to combine a powdery substance with water
2 to knead (dough); to mix (plaster, mortar)

Characters

和

huó

to combine a powdery substance with water

Examples

奶奶正在和面，准备包饺子。

Nǎinai zhèngzài huó miàn, zhǔnbèi bāo jiǎozi.

Grandma is kneading dough to make dumplings.

先把面粉和好，再醒半小时。

Xiān bǎ miànfěn huó hǎo, zài xǐng bàn xiǎoshí.

First mix the flour with water, then let it rest for half an hour.

Tips

usage

huó is the kitchen and construction reading: combining a dry powder with water until it sticks together. Almost exclusively heard in 和面 (kneading dough) and 和泥 (mixing mortar or plaster). Distinguish from huò (搅和), which is mixing things that are already wet or blending finished ingredients together.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth

Right mouth radical, the indexing radical. The original meaning of 和 was 'voices responding in harmony' (still alive in 和谐 'harmony'). The mouth-radical anchors the speech-and-agreement origin; 'and / with' is a grammatical extension from this 'joining together' sense.

phonetic

禾 hé

grain; standing rice plant

Left 禾 supplies the sound exactly: hé to hé, no shift. Originally a pictograph of a rice plant heavy with grain. Adds a faint semantic flavour, voices in harmony like a stalk of grain bowing, though it functions primarily as a phonetic. Same family yields 私, 秋.