団子

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 団子(だんご) means dumplings made by shaping dough, such as rice-flour dough, into balls.
• Basic usage: It is used for shaping the dough or buying dumplings on a skewer at a shop.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• 一本 counts a skewer
  • In 団子を一本買った, 一本(いっぽん) indicates that one skewer of dumplings was bought.
• The freshly grilled state
  • 焼きたての団子 means freshly grilled dumplings. たて marks the state just after the action has been completed.