饼 (bǐng): round flat cake

Measure Word

一块饼 kuài

Meanings

1 round flat cake
2 cookie
3 pastry

Characters

饼

bǐng

flat cake; pastry

饣(food radical) + 并 (together) — food pressed flat together

Examples

她做了一个饼。

Tā zuò le yígè bǐng.

She made a flatbread.

月饼是中秋节的传统食品。

Yuèbǐng shì Zhōngqiūjié de chuántǒng shípǐn.

Mooncakes are a traditional Mid-Autumn Festival food.

烧饼很好吃。

Shāobǐng hěn hǎochī.

Sesame flatbread is delicious.

Tips

usage

饼 is a general term for flat, round baked/fried foods. Many specific types: 月饼 (mooncake), 烧饼 (sesame flatbread), 煎饼 (crepe).

Components

radical

饣 shí

food; eat (radical)

Left radical 饣 is the simplified side-form of 食 (food). Marks 饼 as an edible item and joins the food-family of cooked goods: 饭 (rice meal), 饺 (dumpling), 馒 (steamed bun), 饿 (hungry), 饱 (full). Anything with 饣 on the left lands on the dinner table.

phonetic

并 bìng

side by side; together (phonetic)

Right phonetic 并 supplies the sound (bìng → bǐng, just a tone shift) and a faint semantic flavour: 并 means 'side by side, combined'. A 饼 is precisely flat dough with ingredients pressed together — mooncakes, sesame flatbreads, scallion pancakes. Same phonetic appears in 拼 (assemble).