糠 (kāng) - Bran — the husk or outer layer of & chaff

糠Tone 1

kāng ｜ 17 strokes ｜ radical:

俊梁

糠 · kāng

Bran — the husk or outer layer of grains such as rice or wheat, separated during milling;

chaff;

worthless or coarse material.

Bran — the husk or outer layer ofchaffworthless or coarse material.

Usage highlights

Rice branWheat branGrain branBran oilSift branChaff and husks

Synonyms

  • 麸— bran (specifically wheat bran)
  • 秕— blighted grain, chaff

Antonyms

  • 精— refined, essence (as in refined rice vs. bran)
  • 米— rice (the valuable grain vs. the husk)

Usage & contexts

Examples

  • Rice bran is a byproduct of milling (米糠).
  • This bread contains wheat bran for fiber (麦糠面包).
  • They feed livestock with grain bran (饲料糠).
  • He lives in poverty, eating chaff and husks (吃糠咽菜).

Collocations

  • Rice bran(米糠)
  • Wheat bran(麦糠)
  • Grain bran(糠麸)
  • Bran oil(糠油)
  • Sift bran(筛糠)
  • Chaff and husks(糠秕)

Idioms

  • Eating chaff and swallowing vegetables — living in extreme poverty(吃糠咽菜)
  • Chaff and dregs — worthless, inferior stuff(糠秕糟粕)
  • Chaff in the wind — something light and worthless(风中糠秕)
  • Ten pounds of chaff, nine pounds of dust — exaggerated, empty talk(十斤糠九斤尘)

Cultural background

FAQ
  • Traditionally associated with poverty and coarse living, as bran was the least desirable part of grain, often consumed only by the very poor or used as animal feed.
  • In Chinese medicine and diet, rice bran (米糠) is recognized for its nutritional value, containing oils and fiber.
  • Symbolically represents something worthless or trivial, as in the idiom '糠秕' meaning worthless matter.

FAQ