碟 (dié): dish

Measure Word

一个碟 gè

Meanings

1 dish
2 saucer
3 small plate
4 disc

Examples

请给我一个小碟。

Qǐng gěi wǒ yīgè xiǎo dié.

Please give me a small dish.

桌上放着几碟小菜。

Zhuōshàng fàng zhe jǐ dié xiǎocài.

There are several dishes of appetizers on the table.

Tips

usage

碟 refers to a small, flat plate or saucer. Compare with 盘 (pán) which is a larger plate. 碟子 is the more colloquial form.

Components

radical

石 shí

stone

Left 石 (stone) — the indexing radical. Anchors 碟 as something hard and dish-like — early dishes and saucers were earthenware or stone. The radical groups 碟 with 砖 (brick), 碗 (bowl), 砸 (smash) — solid-material objects.

phonetic

枼 yè

thin flat object; leaf

Right 枼 supplies the sound (yè → dié, a regular alternation in the same phonetic family that produced 蝶 dié 'butterfly,' 谍 dié 'spy,' 牒 dié 'document'). 枼 itself depicts a thin flat layer atop a tree — the phonetic family clusters around 'thin, flat, leaf-like,' which fits a saucer perfectly.