煲

Han character

煲 (radical 86 火+9, 13 strokes, cangjie input 人木火 (ODF), four-corner 2680₉, composition ⿱保火)

Etymology

The earliest attestation is found in Robert Morrison's A Dictionary of the Chinese Language (Zhang, 2016).

There are various proposals regarding the etymology of the word:

• From Old Chinese:
  • From 釜 (OC *baʔ, “pot; cauldron”) (Chan, 1995; Xu, 2002);
  • From 鍑 (OC *puɡs, *puɡ, “pot; cauldron”) (Zhang Taiyan's Xin Fangyan);
  • From 缶 (OC *puʔ, “earthen jar”) (Pan, 2016);
  • From 缹 (OC *puʔ, “to cook”) (Kong, 1933).
• From a word in the language of the natives in Lingnan, recorded in 《北戶錄》 as 褒 (MC pɑu) (as in 褒牛頭) (Luo, 1960; Huang, 2011).
• From English boil (Zhang, 2016).

Pronunciation

Various kinds of 煲 (2).

Definitions

煲

1. (chiefly Cantonese) pot; kettle; cauldron (Classifier: 個／个)
2. (chiefly Cantonese) food in a pot

   枝竹羊腩煲 [Cantonese]  ―  zi¹ zuk¹ joeng⁴ naam⁵ bou¹ [Jyutping]  ―  lamb brisket with bean curd in a pot

   魚香茄子煲 / 鱼香茄子煲 [Cantonese]  ―  jyu⁴ hoeng¹ ke^4-2 zi² bou¹ [Jyutping]  ―  fish-fragrant eggplant in a pot

3. (chiefly Cantonese) to boil; to cook
4. (Cantonese) to smoke (a cigarette)
5. (Cantonese) to do something for a long time

Compounds