料

liào

material

stuff; grain; feed; to expect; to anticipate; to guess

grain (米) + dipper (斗) = material you measure out

A dipper (斗) was used to measure out grain (米), so 料 captured the idea of portioning raw materials. From measuring and handling stuff comes the extended sense of anticipating or reckoning with what you have.

米+斗→料
斗A ladleSemantic
米RiceSemantic

我没有料到他会来得这么早。

wǒ méi yǒu liào dào tā huì lái de zhème zǎo。

I didn't anticipate that he would come this early.

做这把椅子需要很多木料。

zuò zhè bǎ yǐzi xūyào hěn duō mùliào。

Making this chair requires a lot of wood material.

Words with 料

染料

rǎn liào

dye

料到

liào dào

to foresee

资料片

zī liào piàn

a documentary film

料酒

liào jiǔ

cooking wine

饲料

sì liào

feed

材料科学

cái liào kē xué

materials science

不出所料

bù chū suǒ liào

as expected

原料

yuán liào

raw material

资料库

zī liào kù

(Tw) (computing) database

进料

jìn liào

to feed (a machine)

边角料

biān jiǎo liào

scrap

配料

pèi liào

ingredients (in a cooking recipe)

More characters with 米

粲敉洣咪彝粤