粥 is a staple of Chinese breakfast. Popular kinds: 白粥 (plain congee), 皮蛋瘦肉粥 (century egg congee), 八宝粥 (eight-treasure congee), 小米粥 (millet congee).
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A fourth-tone reading yù survives only in the ancient name 荤粥, an old transliteration for the Xiongnu nomads. For the food, congee, the reading is always zhōu.
Middle rice radical, the indexing radical, four grains around a cross. 粥 is rice cooked long in water until it falls apart; the radical keeps the dish anchored to grain, alongside 糕, 糯, 粒.
Left 弓, a pictograph of a bow. The two 弓 flanking 米 are graphic stand-ins for rising steam, not actual bows. The character is a compound ideograph: rice cooking in water with steam curling up on both sides of the pot.
Right side mirrors the left, another curve of rising steam. The symmetry is the whole point: porridge on the stove with steam billowing evenly from both sides of the pot. A rare case where the same component appears twice purely for visual onomatopoeia of cooking.
