Meaning of 蛋糕
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- cake
Measure word: 塊|块,個|个
How to use 蛋糕
蛋糕 usually means a Western-style sponge or cream cake, the kind you buy at a bakery or have on a birthday. It is often paired with 生日 (shēngrì) for birthday cake. Example: 我给妈妈买了一个生日蛋糕。(Wǒ gěi māma mǎi le yí ge shēngrì dàngāo.) I bought my mom a birthday cake.
蛋糕 is literally egg (蛋 dàn) plus cake (糕 gāo). Picture a cake made with lots of eggs, and notice 糕 has the rice radical 米 on the left because traditional Chinese cakes were made from rice flour.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes say the tones as dāngāo or dàngǎo. Both syllables matter: 蛋 is fourth tone (dàn) and 糕 is first tone (gāo). Also do not confuse 糕 with 糟 (zāo) from 糟糕, which looks similar but has 曹 on the right instead of 羔.
蛋糕 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
蛋 dàn · egg · 11 strokes
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糕 gāo · cake · 16 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 蛋糕.
| 鸡蛋 | jīdàn | (chicken) egg; hen's egg |
| 糟糕 | zāogāo | too bad; how terrible |
| 笨蛋 | bèndàn | (mild insult) fool; idiot; (playful) silly person |
| 完蛋 | wándàn | (coll.) to be done for |
| 蛋白质 | dànbáizhì | protein |
| 混蛋 | húndàn | scoundrel; bastard |
| 王八蛋 | wángbādàn | bastard; son of a bitch |
| 坏蛋 | huàidàn | bad egg; scoundrel |
| 滚蛋 | gǔndàn | (slang) get out of here!; beat it! |
| 蠢蛋 | chǔndàn | fool; dolt |
| 蛋蛋 | dàndàn | (coll.) balls (testicles) |
| 操蛋 | càodàn | lousy; rotten |
Questions about 蛋糕
What does 蛋糕 mean?
蛋糕 (dàngāo) means "cake" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 蛋糕?
蛋糕 is made of 2 characters: 蛋 (11 strokes), 糕 (16 strokes). That is 27 strokes in total.
Is 蛋糕 an HSK word?
Yes. 蛋糕 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What measure word is used with 蛋糕?
For a whole cake, use 个 (gè), as in 一个蛋糕. For a slice, use 块 (kuài), as in 一块蛋糕 (a piece of cake).
Does 蛋糕 have any figurative meaning?
Yes. In business or economics talk, 蛋糕 can mean the total pie of resources or profit. For example, 把蛋糕做大 (bǎ dàngāo zuò dà) means to grow the pie so everyone gets more.