There is still half a cup of hot tea in the teacup.
Tips
usage
盅 specifically refers to a small, handleless cup. In compound words: 酒盅 (wine cup), 茶盅 (tea cup), 骰盅 (dice cup). It evokes a traditional, often ceramic drinking vessel.
Bottom 皿 — pictograph of a footed dish or bowl seen from the side. As the indexing radical it places 盅 in the vessel family with 盆 basin, 盘 plate, 盏 small cup, 盖 lid. A 盅 is specifically a small handleless cup for tea, wine, or shaking dice.
Top 中 supplies the sound — zhōng read directly through to the parent with no shift. There is also a soft visual reinforcement: the vertical stroke piercing a frame echoes liquid filling a centred cup. Same phonetic appears in 忠 (loyal) and 钟 (clock).
