菜

See also: 莱

Translingual

Stroke order

Etymology

Phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 艹 + phonetic 采.

Han character

菜 (radical 140 艸+8, 11 strokes, cangjie input 廿月木 (TBD), four-corner 4490₄)

1. vegetable, vegetables
2. dish, order
3. food
4. cuisine

References

• KangXi: page 1038, character 13
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 31184
• Dae Jaweon: page 1496, character 16
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 5, page 3236, character 10
• Unihan data for U+83DC

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Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		菜

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): cài (cai⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄘㄞˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): coi³
• Min Nan (POJ): chhài

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: cài
    • Zhuyin: ㄘㄞˋ
    • Wade-Giles: ts'ai⁴
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tsay
    • IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰaɪ̯⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: coi³
    • Yale: choi
    • Cantonese Pinyin: tsoi³
    • IPA ^(key): /t͡sʰɔːi̯³³/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chhài
    • Tâi-lô: tshài
    • IPA (Taipei): /t͡sʰaɪ¹¹/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /t͡sʰaɪ²¹/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (菜, reconstructed)
Character (菜), Pronunciation 1/1
Initial: 清 (14) Final: 咍 Division: I			Openness: Open Tone: Departing (H)			Fanqie: 倉代切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/t͡sʰʌiH/	/t͡sʰɑ̆iH/	/t͡sʰᴀiH/	/t͡sʰəiH/	/t͡sʰəjH/	/t͡sʰɒiH/	/t͡sʰɒiH/

Noun

菜 (classifier 盤／盘,道)

1. vegetable; greens
   • 蔬菜 (shūcài, "vegetables")
   • 白菜 (báicài, "Chinese cabbage")
   • 菠菜 (bōcài, "spinach")
2. cuisine; (type of) food

   你想吃法國菜，日本菜還是中國菜？ [MSC, trad.]

   你想吃法国菜，日本菜还是中国菜？ [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ xiǎng chī fǎguó cài, rìběn cài háishì zhōngguó cài? [Pinyin]

   Do you want to eat French, Japanese or Chinese food?

3. dish; course

   這個菜很對胃口。 [MSC, trad.]

   这个菜很对胃口。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhè ge cài hěn duìwèikǒu. [Pinyin]

   This dish is tasty.

   每次他來這兒，他都點同樣的菜。 [MSC, trad.]

   每次他来这儿，他都点同样的菜。 [MSC, simp.]

   Měi cì tā lái zhèr, tā dōu diǎn tóngyàng de cài. [Pinyin]

   Whenever he comes to this place, he orders the same dish

   我在考慮我晚飯做甚麼菜。 [MSC, trad.]

   我在考虑我晚饭做甚么菜。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ zài kǎolǜ wǒ wǎnfàn zuò shènme cài. [Pinyin]

   I'm wondering what to cook for dinner.

4. (colloquial) (one's) type

   他是我的菜！ [MSC, trad. and simp.]

   Tā shì wǒ de cài! [Pinyin]

   He is my type!

Compounds

• 白菜 (báicài)
• 冬寒菜 (dōngháncài) - Chinese Mallow, Cluster Mallow, bot. Malva verticillata L.
• 冬葵 (dōngcài) - Chinese Mallow, Cluster Mallow, bot. Malva verticillata L.
• 海菜 (hǎicài) - (edible) seaweed
• 芽菜 (yá cài) - mungbean sprout, soybean sprout; literally: "tooth vegetable"
• A菜 Taiwanese word for 山莴苣 (shān wōjù) - Indian Lettuce (bot. Lactuca indica L.)

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Japanese

Kanji

菜

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

Readings

• On: さい (sai)
• Kun: な (na)

Compounds

• 菜箸 (saibashi)

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Korean

Hanja

菜 (chae) (hangeul 채, revised chae, McCune-Reischauer ch'ae, Yale chay)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

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Vietnamese

Han character

菜 (thái, thủy, linh, lê)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.