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.

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A ladleSemantic
RiceSemantic

我没有到他会来得这么早。

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

zuò zhè bǎ yǐzi xūyào hěn duō mùliào。

Making this chair requires a lot of wood material.

Words with 料

进料

jìn liào

to feed (a machine)

边角料

biān jiǎo liào

scrap

配料

pèi liào

ingredients (in a cooking recipe)

酒水饮料

jiǔ shuǐ yǐn liào

drink (on a menu)

酒精饮料

jiǔ jīng yǐn liào

liquor

酱料

jiàng liào

sauce

集料

jí liào

aggregate

领料

lǐng liào

receiving materials

领料单

lǐng liào dān

material requisition form

颜料

yán liào

paint

食料

shí liào

foodstuff

饮料

yǐn liào

drink

More characters with 米