wèng
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 water spinach (used only in 蕹菜)

Examples

夏天南方人蕹菜
Xiàtiān nánfāngrén cháng chǎo wèngcài chī.
In summer the southerners often stir-fry water spinach.

Tips

history
is not used on its own; it occurs only in the plant name 蕹菜 (water spinach), more commonly called 空心菜 in everyday speech. It is built from the grass radical over the phonetic .

Components

radical
cǎo
grass; plant
The grass radical on top marks this as a plant — here a leafy edible vegetable.
phonetic
yōng
harmonious; to block
Supplies the sound; the reading shifted from yōng to wèng. It functions purely as the phonetic, carrying no meaning into the plant name.

Stroke Order

wèng