马铃薯

馬鈴薯
mǎlíngshǔ
noun #9,007

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 potato

Characters

Horse + bell + tuber — named because the shape resembles a horse bell. A formal word for potato.

Examples

Mǎlíngshǔ shì shìjiè shàng zhòngyào de liángshi zuòwù.
The potato is an important food crop in the world.
Zhè dào cài yòng de shì mǎlíngshǔ.
This dish uses potatoes.
Mǎlíngshǔ kěyǐ chǎo, zhǔ, zhá.
Potatoes can be stir-fried, boiled, or deep-fried.

Tips

usage
马铃薯 is the formal/written term for potato. In daily speech, most Chinese say 土豆 (tǔdòu, 'earth bean') in the north or (yángyù, 'foreign taro') in the southwest. 马铃薯 appears in textbooks, menus, and official contexts.
memory
Horse bell tuber — imagine a potato shaped like the bell that hangs from a horse's neck. The name stuck from the resemblance.

Stroke Order

líng
shǔ