元宵的英文就是 yuanxiao

今天是元宵節 [元：上元，即農曆正月十五 + 宵：夜]，傳統上要吃元宵，據說這有團圓的寓意。太太暫時不在身邊，我一個人出於想念，也去超市應景地買了一盒，煮了兩顆，象徵成雙成對，永不分離。

我煮得過久，有點糊了；加上只用水煮，也沒什麼香味。還好糯米和內餡尚佳，色香味沒有全軍覆沒。

我上學期在英語詞彙學裡曾經介紹了 "元宵" 的英文：或音譯為 yuanxiao，或以簡短的解釋 rice-flour ball 行之。每每我用很直接的方法 (如音譯、借譯) 來給中華文化特色詞找英文對應時，部分同學的反應總是竊笑、驚訝、甚至不以為然，殊不知這種方法是最常見的，不僅自然，又能最大限度保留了原汁原味。學問，不見得總是要拐彎抹角吧？

茲引最權威的《牛津英語詞典》(The Oxford English Dictionary) 第二版 (1989, 2009) 為證。牛津的拼法是傳統威妥瑪式 (Wade-Giles) 的 yuan hsiao，現在多已改為漢語拼音的 yuanxiao：

yuan hsiao

Also yüan hsiao and with hyphen.

[Chinese yuánxiāo (in Wade-Giles yüanhsiao), f. yuán first + xiāo night.]

A sweet rice-flour dumpling made for the Chinese Lantern Festival (15 January in the lunar calendar).

1956 B. Y. Chao How to cook & eat in Chinese II. xvii. 210 Orange soup with yüan-hsiao... Knead the glutinous rice flour with ½ cup hot..water. Then make into globules of about 3/8 inch in diameter. These are the yüan-hsiao. 1972 K. Lo Chinese Food i. 56 Yuan hsiao is a form of Chinese festival sweet, served in a rather bland rice soup. Ibid. 57 We Chinese love these yuan hsiaos, partly, I think, because of happy childhood memories of being allowed to do the rolling.