饅

A phono-semantic compound:

食 (eat; food) — semantic component, marks the word as a food item

曼 (màn, “long; extended”) — phonetic component, provides the sound

The original sense refers to a filled or shaped mass of dough, often steamed.

In early Chinese sources, 饅 (饅頭) did not necessarily contain filling. It often referred to plain steamed bread, especially in northern China.

Legend (popular but semi-apocryphal):

Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮) — a Chinese statesman, strategist and inventor who lived through the end of the Eastern Han dynasty and the early Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD), said to have used dough heads (饅頭) instead of human heads for ritual offerings. Whether historical or not, this legend shows how 饅 became associated with shaped dough offerings rather than mere bread.

만두 (饅頭) — dumpling; filled dough food

왕만두 (王饅頭) — large stuffed dumplings

In Korea, 만두(饅頭) underwent a semantic narrowing and specialization:

- usually filled (meat, vegetables, kimchi)

- boiled, steamed, or pan-fried

Thus:

Chinese mantou ≈ Korean 찐빵

Korean mandu ≈ Chinese 包子 / 餃子 (functionally)

In medieval Chinese culinary records, 饅頭 appears as a ritual and military ration food, valued for:

- portability

- ease of mass production

- symbolic shape

In Buddhist temples, steamed dough foods like 饅頭 were commonly used as:

- vegetarian offerings

- monastic meals

This aligns with the Buddhist avoidance of blood sacrifice, replacing it with grain-based forms.

In modern Mandarin:

饅頭 (mántou) = plain steamed bread.

In Korean:

만두 almost always implies stuffed.

In Japanese:

饅頭 (まんじゅう, manjū) = sweet bean–filled buns.

Thus, 饅 is a classic example of shared character, diverging food cultures.

Related characters:

食 — eat; food

餃 — dumpling

包 — wrap; bun

麵 / 面 — noodles; flour

Phonetic family:

曼 — long; extended

慢 — slow

漫 — overflow; diffuse

𪍩 (U+2A369) — variant using 麥 (wheat) instead of 食 — emphasizes the grain-based nature of the food.