面包
bread
miànbāo
What does 面包 mean?
面包 (miànbāo) is the noun for 'bread,' covering both Western-style loaves and the smaller sweet or savory rolls common in Chinese bakeries. Literally 'flour-wrapped' — 面 ('flour, wheat') + 包 ('wrapped thing') — the word reflects that bread arrived in China as an imported food. Bread is not part of the traditional Chinese diet; staple foods are 米饭 (rice) and 面条 (noodles), with steamed 馒头 (mántou) as the closest indigenous equivalent.
Measure words depend on shape: 一片面包 (a slice), 一块面包 (a chunk), 一个面包 (a whole roll). Useful compounds include 面包店 (bakery), 面包片
Character breakdown
flour; wheat-based food
to wrap; bundle; bun
Memory hook: 面 (flour) + 包 (wrapped bun) = a wrapped lump of flour = bread.
Measure word for 面包
Example sentences
我早上喜欢吃面包。
Wǒ zǎoshang xǐhuan chī miànbāo.
I like to eat bread in the morning.
spoken
你能去面包店买点面包吗？
Nǐ néng qù miànbāo diàn mǎi diǎn miànbāo ma?
Can you go to the bakery and buy some bread?
spoken
这种面包很好吃。
Zhè zhǒng miànbāo hěn hǎochī.
This kind of bread is really tasty.
neutral
他用面包做了三明治。
Tā yòng miànbāo zuò le sānmíngzhì.
He used bread to make a sandwich.
neutral
请给我一片面包。
Qǐng gěi wǒ yí piàn miànbāo.
Please give me a slice of bread.
polite
Common phrases with 面包
Synonyms
馒头 is the traditional Chinese steamed bun — plain, unsweetened, made from wheat flour but steamed, not baked. 面包 is the modern baked bread (Western-style or Asian bakery-style). At breakfast in northern China you'd more often have 馒头 than 面包.