Meaning
dish (type of food); vegetables
Chinese: 蔬菜、菜肴;饭菜。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “cai” becomes a different word in each tone. 菜 is the 4th tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 菜单cài dānmenu
- 白菜bái càiChinese cabbage, esp. napa cabbage (Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis); sometimes used to refer to bok choy (Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis)
- 蔬菜shū càivegetables
- 菜市场cài shì chǎngfood market
- 上菜shàng càito serve food
Example Sentence
妈妈做的菜又香又好吃。Mā ma zuò de cài yòu xiāng yòu hǎo chī.The food my mom cooks is fragrant and delicious.
妈妈Mā mamama做zuòto make的deof菜càivegetable又yòuagain香xiāngfragrant又yòuagain好吃hǎo chītasty。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The plant radical 艹 (meaning) plus 采 (cǎi, to pick, sound): plants gathered to eat — ‘vegetables / a dish’.
A way to remember it
Plants (艹) you pick (采) — vegetables.
Easy to confuse with
- 采‘To pick’: the sound part of 菜, on its own.