Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced cai
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced cai, including 才 cái, 采 cǎi / cài, 财 cái, 材 cái, 彩 cǎi. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
To say cai, use a flat-tongue c, slide into ai, and lay the tone on top — it is one sound, not the letters read separately.
Initial c
Flat tongue with strong aspiration.
Final ai
Settle the final ai into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (才 cái, 采 cǎi / cài, 财 cái, 材 cái, 彩 cǎi) and lock in their tones. 9 common characters share the sound cai, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
cai turns up here with 4 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 猜 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 才, 财, 材… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 采, 彩 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 菜, 蔡 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing cai inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
9 common characters in this group.