豇 (jiāng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

豇

jiāng[jiang1]Tone 1

cowpea

Guru Deep Dive

English · cowpea

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (豆) is slightly narrower and taller, while the right phonetic component (工) balances it out by extending its bottom horizontal stroke gracefully.

1. Meaning

cowpea or yardlong bean

used almost exclusively in the compound word 豇豆 (jiāngdòu)

NounFormal / SpecializedBound morpheme#plants#vegetables#food

Sample Usage

妈妈买了一把新鲜的豇豆。
mā ma mǎi le yì bǎ xīn xiān de jiāng dòu.
Mom bought a bunch of fresh cowpeas.
干煸豇豆是一道著名的川菜。
gān biān jiāng dòu shì yí dào zhù míng de chuān cài.
Dry-fried cowpeas is a famous Sichuan dish.

2. Sound

/[t͡ɕi̯äŋ⁵⁵]/Tone: 55

豇

jiāngjiang1

¯(55)

=jiāng

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

jiang

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "a" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Unaspirated Alveolo-Palatal

Sounds like: j sound as in 'jeep' (without friction)

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: No air puff. Lips spread wide like smiling.

Tongue & Mouth Position: The blade of the tongue touches the hard palate while the tip rests gently behind the lower front teeth.

Final Rhyme

iang

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -iang rhymes with 'yang'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'yahng'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 stays flat and high, similar to singing a sustained high note on the word 'see'.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the alveolo-palatal initial 'j' with the retroflex 'zh' or tip-dental 'z'.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A high, flat horizontal hand gesture held steadily in the upper register, matching the steady drone of a musical note.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (豆) is slightly narrower and taller, while the right phonetic component (工) balances it out by extending its bottom horizontal stroke gracefully.

4. Components

Radical 豆 · Bean Radical (bean, vessel)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 豆 (Indicates that this character relates to beans or legumes.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 工 (original sound: jiāng / gōng sound clue)

The bean radical (豆) on the left provides the meaning of a legume, while the worker/tool character (工) on the right provides the sound 'jiāng'.

豆 Bean semantic component
工 Phonetic component

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

24· Phonetic Root: 工 (gōng)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from 豆 (bean) as the semantic category and 工 (construction/work) providing the phonetic reading, created to specifically denote the long bean or cowpea.

Semantic Evolution: Has consistently referred to the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) throughout Chinese agricultural history.

Cowpeas are one of humanity's oldest cultivated crops, originating in Africa and spreading to Asia millennia ago.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

A hard-working construction worker (工) sits down in the fields to shell a bowl of fresh green beans (豆), making a delicious cowpea dish.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

工

gōngworkPhonetic Core (声旁)

空

kōngempty, sky, air+ 穴 (cave)

红

hóngred+ 纟 (silk)

经

jīngclassics, scripture, to pass through, warp+ 纟 (silk)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

江(jiāng)

江 means river and features the water radical (氵), whereas 豇 means cowpea and features the bean radical (豆).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

妈妈今天做了肉末[___]豆。

Clue: jiāng

Common Learner Pitfall

Mistaking the left radical for something else or writing the right component 工 incorrectly by misaligning its strokes.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What vegetable does the character 豇 refer to when combined with 豆?

Production: How do you write the character for 'cowpea' (jiāng) using the bean radical and the phonetic component 工?

豇jiāngcowpea

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