荤 has two pronunciations, pronounced hūn and xūn.
Nowadays, I consult various dictionaries, and the general definition:
When pronounced hūn, "荤" has three meanings: one refers to meat, the second refers to what Buddhists call onions and garlic and other dishes with a special smell, and the third refers to low-level, vulgar language. For example, "meat jokes", that is, jokes with erotic connotations.
When pronounced xūn, "荤" refers to a tribe in ancient northern China, and is also used exclusively for the word "meat porridge".
In fact, a little flipping through the ancient texts will show that the above explanations are not all correct.
When pronounced hūn, meat refers specifically to meat. For example, when we talk about "meat dishes", we usually mean meat-based dishes. The so-called "meat joke" is a metaphor, which refers to the language spoken and related to the flesh, so it is called "meat".
Usually what we call "onions, ginger, garlic", etc., in ancient times, it was not called meat (hūn) cuisine, but meat (xūn) cuisine. "Ji Yun" clearly interprets "Xu Yunche, sound smoked." ", refers to ginger and spices.
The Weihai dialect retains the ancient pronunciation of the ancient language, and explicitly refers to things such as "onions, ginger and garlic" as "meat dishes", which is pronounced as xùn cāi.
As for the specific dishes included in "meat dishes", there have been many theories. However, according to the interpretation of "Jiyun", it is "a general term for ginger and spice vegetables", and there is no objection to this statement. There are many objections to the statement "what is a spicy dish". A more common saying is that in ancient times, onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, coriander and so on were usually called spicy vegetables.
Green onion, refers to green onion.
Garlic, refers to garlic.
韭,指韭菜。
Shallot refers to small garlic, also called lycoris.
Coriander, which refers to coriander. "Coriander" has two pronunciations, which are pronounced as yàn sui and also as yàn xi. Both of these pronunciations are archaic and exist simultaneously in the Weihai dialect. That is, some people say it as yàn sui, and some people say it as yàn xi. Both pronunciations are correct, not transliteration, phonetic errors, etc.
coriander
"荤菜 (xùn cāi)" has a strong smell, so "荤菜 (xùn cāi) 味儿" is a spicy and pungent smell, which is the smell produced by the mild spoilage of meat dishes.
For example, if the dumplings are left on hold for a long time, people will say, "I can't smell like a meat dish."