糖

A phono-semantic compound:

米 (“rice, grain”) — semantic element, pointing to grain-derived products.

唐 (dang / táng, “Tang dynasty”) — phonetic element, giving the sound.

Original sense: sweet products made from grain (malt sugar, syrup, candy).

Later generalized to mean sugar and sugary foods in general.

砂糖 (사탕) — refined sugar

糖果 (당과) — candy, sweets

糖尿病 (당뇨병) — diabetes mellitus (lit. “sugar urine illness”)

糖衣 (당의) — sugar coating (also figuratively, a “sugarcoat”)

乳糖 (유당) — lactose

葡萄糖 (포도당) — glucose

糖類 (당류) — saccharides, sugars

Historically, in Korean, two readings were given:

• 엿 당 (for grain syrup, traditional sweets)

• 사탕 탕 (for candy, loaned into Korean “satang” 사탕)

The latter reading has since been dropped, leaving only 당 as standard.

This historical dual-reading status caused 糖 to be listed among the 268 duplicated hanja in KS X 1001 (the Korean national character set).

In East Asia, 糖 came to symbolize sweetness, pleasure, and indulgence, but also carries negative connotations in medical terms (e.g., diabetes).