清淡
qīng dàn · HSK 7
not greasy or strongly flavored
🥗 清 clear/pure + 淡 bland/diluted = food that is light, not greasy
Both halves pull toward weak intensity: 清 is clear or pure, 淡 is diluted or faint. Together they describe food that is plain and low on grease or strong flavor — and by extension slack, thin sales.
清 — water 氵 + 青 (azure/blue-green, phonetic)
清 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The water radical 氵 gives the meaning—originally clear, unmuddied water—while 青 (qīng, azure) supplies the sound and reinforces the image of pure blue-green water. The sense later broadened from 'clear water' to 'clear, pure, clean' in general.
淡 — water radical 氵 + 炎 (flame, phonetic)
淡 combines the water radical 氵 with 炎 (flame), which serves mainly as the phonetic component. The original sense relates to water that is thin or weak in flavor — diluted. From this it extended to mean bland, light, faint, or pale, as in pale colors or weak tea.