砂糖
shā táng · HSK 7
sugar
🍬 砂糖 = 砂 sand + 糖 sugar: sugar in fine sand-like grains, i.e. granulated
砂 means sand or grit and 糖 means sugar, so 砂糖 literally reads as sand-sugar, naming the fine granulated form. The shā in shā táng is the same shā as in 沙 sand, a built-in cue for the grainy texture.
糖 — rice radical 米 + 唐 táng (phonetic)
糖 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 米 (rice/grain) signals the meaning, since sugar was historically produced from grains and cane. The right side 唐 supplies the sound 'táng'. Originally referring to malt sugar made from grains, the word later broadened to mean sugar and sweets in general.