About
The character 饧 (táng or xíng), with its traditional form 餳, is a phono-semantic compound historically used for malt sugar, molasses, or thick syrups. Its semantic radical 饣 (simplified) or 食 (traditional) means "food", classifying the substance as edible. The right component, 易 (simplified) or 昜 (traditional), serves as the phonetic element. Originally, it denoted a sweetener made from sprouted grains, but in modern usage, it appears mainly in historical texts about ancient diets or traditional confectionery.
Etymology Hide
