I came across a Mandarin Chinese word the either day for which I need some clarification
as I can't find it in a dictionary.
The word is dun (with falling tone) and it was used when speaking about/in relation to cooked rice.
Is this a MW I haven't come across before or just another noun?
Helpful replies appreciated.
My Chinese is not that good, but if it was yi2 dun4 fan4, it means some thing like one course of a meal (not dish), as in, if you had lunch and dinner already, you would have had liang3 dun4 fan4, two courses of meal.
Maybe course is not the best measure word, but maybe someone can help me out here....
(Sorry, couldn't help but pointing out to some, MW actually means molecular weight....;p)
According to my Dictionary of Measure Words, 顿 (dun4) is used in the following circumstances:
1) For measuring the number of regular meals or any occasion when food is eaten.
一天三顿饭 (3 meals a day), 一顿午饭 (a lunch), 一顿夜宵 (a midnight snack).
2) For the number of times reprimanding, advising or abusing, etc. Here 顿 can only be preceded by the numeral 一 which is sometimes omitted.
吵了(一)顿架 (quarreled with somebody) 发了(一)顿脾气 (lost one's temper) 批评一顿 (to criticize) 我说了他一顿 (I rebuked him)
Thanks for that - the context in which it was used certainly fits with "number of regular meals or occasion when food is eaten".
I had to laugh, orangutan as molecular weight in a discussion of a Mandarin word is not something I would be going in for (have always been bad at math and science, even in English!). I always thought MW was the accepted abbreviation for "measure word" in the current context?
Additionally, thanks, zashibis, for providing the hanzi - I can now enter it in my vocab. book with other measure words.