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Character Breakdown

Meaning and Usage

The character (jiān) primarily means "to pan fry," referring to cooking food in a small amount of oil or fat in a pan. It is commonly used in everyday cooking contexts, such as frying eggs, pancakes, or meat slices.

Common Collocations

  • 鸡蛋 (jiān jīdàn): pan-fried eggs
  • (jiānbǐng): a type of Chinese pancake
  • (jiān yào): to decoct medicine, especially traditional Chinese herbal medicine

Additional Notes

Besides cooking, is also used in the context of preparing traditional Chinese medicine, where herbs are boiled or simmered to extract their active ingredients. This usage is more formal and often appears in medical or health-related contexts.

Usage Tips

When using to describe cooking, it implies a relatively quick frying process with some oil, different from deep-frying () or stir-frying (). Avoid confusing with , which involves submerging food in hot oil. In medicinal contexts, emphasizes the boiling or simmering process to extract herbal properties.

Example Sentences

Mom is pan-frying eggs in the kitchen.

This dish needs to be pan-fried first, then baked in the oven.

Traditional Chinese medicine usually needs to be decocted for several hours