# Hamburger 汉堡 / 汉堡牛肉饼



## sb70012

Hamburger
汉堡牛肉饼
汉堡

Hi,
Are both Chinese translations right for the word "hamburger"?

Thank you.


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## Oswinw011

Yes


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## sb70012

But there is something that confuses me. I live in China. When I go to the KFC I can see that chicken sandwiches are called 汉堡. 
I think chicken sandwiches shouldn't be called 汉堡 because 汉堡 refers to beef sandwich not chicken sandwich.

What do you think? Isn't it wrong to call a chicken sandwich 汉堡?


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## SimonTsai

The Mandarin word '漢堡' is a transcription of English '_hamburger_', which is said to have little to do with ham but have to do with the German city Hamburg, so the patty can be pork, beef, chicken, fish, or anything that you can think of. A beef burger is '牛肉堡', a cheese burger is '起司堡', a salmon burger is '鮭魚堡', and a sub(marine) burger is '潛艇堡'.

If you are referring specifically to the patty and not the sandwich as a whole, we have '漢堡排' or '漢堡肉'.


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## T.D

The patty is not what determines whether one is called 汉堡 or 三明治. （and technically speaking, 汉堡 is also considered 三明治, according to Wiki）
To my knowledge, it is the shape that matters. A round one is usually considered 汉堡, and a triangular one is considered 三明治.


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## SuperXW

T.D said:


> To my knowledge, it is the shape that matters. A round one is usually considered 汉堡, and a triangular (or square) one is considered 三明治.


Regardless of etymology, T.D’s answer is how most Chinese perceive the words now.
And for the patty, most Chinese would simply call it 肉饼.


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## T.D

Last month the KFCs in my city launched a new product. It was a piece of bacon and pineapple (as patties), placed inside two pieces of fried chicken, and it's still named 汉堡.


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## sb70012

But English dictionaries say that the word hamburger is only for beef.


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## T.D

Perhaps the Chinese word 汉堡 is more like burger (whose patties can be of other ingredients), instead of hamburger.


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## sb70012

Then I think 汉堡牛肉饼 is better translation than 汉堡 for the word hamburger.


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## T.D

sb70012 said:


> Then I think 汉堡牛肉饼 is better translation than 汉堡 for the word hamburger.


If you are referring to the patty alone, then yes.

Come to think of it, I am never sure how to call <the patty> in a hamburger/burger.


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## SimonTsai

Hamburgers are traditionally made with beef, but there are people more into pork, lamb, turkey, or something than beef, and what they make is still hamburgers.

What dictionaries say is a general description and never a rule. Here is a Reddit thread:

'[...] Can you guys explain to me why using beef is so common for burgers and what makes it superior to pork? [...]'​​'We raise our own pigs. We don't raise cows. Therefore, all the burgers we ever make are 100% pork. They are [...] juicier than beef, slightly milder-tasting and meld perfectly with bacon and cheese. [...]'​​'Interestingly, I just came here to post a photo of my burgers which are a beef/pork mix. I like mixing them because it creates a different (lighter?) flavour than just beef.'​​'Had pork burgers made by an Eastern European living in the USA. Apparently it's common over there? [...] Didn't taste like a burger, so weird, but not in a bad way.'​


T.D said:


> Perhaps the Chinese word 汉堡 is more like burger (whose patties can be of other ingredients), instead of hamburger.


I don't see any difference between burgers and hamburgers.


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## T.D

SimonTsai said:


> I don't see any difference between burgers and hamburgers.


Well, I said that because on google, I can find chicken burger, fish burger, turkey burger, etc. But not chicken hamburger, fish hamburger, turkey hamburger. In Chinese we have, for example, 鸡腿堡 and 鳕鱼堡。(and we won't call them 鸡腿汉堡 or 鳕鱼汉堡）


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## SimonTsai

Here is what Google showed me:

鱈魚漢堡裏的鱈魚並不是真正的鱈魚。 (新浪網)​幾次吃到超好吃的手打牛肉漢堡，令我回味無窮。 (痞客邦)​有網友好奇：為甚麼豬肉漢堡在美國少見，貼文引起熱議。 (聯合報)​這篇火雞肉漢堡在製作程序上，和平時的食譜文相比，繁複許多。 (痞客邦)​
Burger King [...] will be introducing [...] in Spain its new fish hamburger — Big Fish Sandwich. (Expatica)​Our original chicken hamburger consists of a premium lean chicken fillet topped with chopped salad [...] (Burger King)​


SuperXW said:


> And for the patty, most Chinese would simply call it 肉饼.


It's time to declare independence!  I guess that we Taiwanese people are generally much more inclined to refer to the patty as '漢堡排' or '漢堡肉'. Below are some examples of how we say it:

自製漢堡肉，做法超簡單。 (痞客邦)​日本太太傳授正宗漢堡排做法。 (吃貨)​香煎或火烤，就能讓漢堡排散發十足的肉汁香氣。 (永豐餘生技)​手工漢堡肉：無粉無油，超低熱量，簡單調味就很美味。 (享受人生)​
The term '肉餅' is sort of ambiguous. It can refer to somethng like this:


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## ovaltine888

我曾经就在点菜时摔了跟头...
本以为点的是汉堡包，结果上来是一块肉饼...早知道还不如点牛排呢...


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## SimonTsai

ovaltine888 said:


> 本以为点的是汉堡包，结果上来是一块肉饼...


Was that an American restaurant? If yes, I guess that I might have made the same mistake. (In Mandarin, a '漢堡' is always a sandwich and not just the patty, so it cannot be confused.)


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