Is 羊汤 (sheep soup) an alternative word for 羊肉汤 (mutton soup)?

Question

The local mosque has a halal restaurant nearby with this sign:

清真回回饺子羊汤馆
Qīngzhēn huíhui jiǎozi yáng tāng guǎn

I translate this approximately to "halal ethnic Hui dumplings and sheep soup restaurant". (Google Translate gives: "Halal back to dumplings sheep soup hall".)

Ordinarily, I would expect to see 羊肉汤 (yángròu tāng) = "mutton soup", but the sign says 羊汤 (yáng tāng) = "sheep soup" which surprises me.

Question: Is 羊汤 an alternative word for 羊肉汤?

Baidu gives 17,200,000 hits for 羊汤 and 15,200,000 hits for 羊肉汤, which suggests both are in common usage.

Answer 1

The term 羊肉 in China refers to goat meat, not sheep meat

羊汤 is a common abbreviation of 羊肉汤.

But technically, 羊骨汤(goat bone soup) can also be called 羊汤 (goat soup). For example '羊汤饺子' (goat soup dumplings) may not contain goat meat. It is not unreasonable to put 饺子(dumplings) in 羊骨汤(goat bone soup) and call it '羊汤饺子'

In any case, just looking at the name 羊汤 alone, you can reasonably expect to get '羊肉 in 羊骨汤'

(I expect 羊汤 to be thin sliced raw goat meat in boiling hot goat bone soup that cook the goat meat medium rare right before you eat it.)

Answer 2

Yes, it is.

百度百科 also has the synonym:

羊汤一般指羊肉汤

Answer 3

羊汤 is actually 羊肉汤， a type of mutton soup.

The term 羊汤 is so widely used that it makes me to feel it's a special type of 羊肉汤 rather than common mutton soup.

Answer 4

People are lazy. So we offen use 羊汤 instead of 羊肉汤! ^_^