蒜

suàn
noun HSK 7-9 #13,906

Measure Word

一头蒜 tóu

Meanings

  1. 1 garlic

Examples

HSK 4
Tā xǐhuan chī shēng suàn.
He likes eating raw garlic.
HSK 7-9
Zhè dào cài xūyào fàng jǐ bàn suàn.
This dish needs a few cloves of garlic.

Tips

usage
一头蒜 is a whole bulb of garlic; 一瓣蒜 is a single clove. 蒜泥 (garlic paste) and 蒜蓉 (minced garlic) are common cooking terms.

Components

radical
艹 cǎo
grass; plant (top radical)
Top grass radical - three quick strokes for sprouting plants. The semantic anchor here: garlic is a bulbous plant grown for its edible cloves. Indexes 蒜 in the botanical family with 花 flower, 草 grass, 茶 tea, 葱 scallion, 韭 chive.
phonetic
祘 suàn
calculate; pair of altars (rare standalone)
Bottom 祘 - two stacked 示 (altar) shapes, supplying the sound suàn directly with no drift. Hardly seen on its own today; the same phonetic also drives 算 to calculate. The paired-altar shape carries no garlic meaning, just locks in the reading; learners can remember 蒜 as 'grass that gets counted out clove by clove.'

Stroke Order

蒜 suàn