菜

See also: 莱

菜 U+2F9A3, 菜 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-2F9A3 ← 菌 [U+2F9A2] CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement 𦰶 → [U+2F9A4]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

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

Derived characters

• 𢵛, 𮓇

References

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

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Chinese

trad.		菜
simp. #		菜
alternative forms		𦬁 second round simplified

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (采) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
采	*sʰɯːʔ
睬	*sʰɯːʔ
彩	*sʰɯːʔ
採	*sʰɯːʔ
綵	*sʰɯːʔ
寀	*sʰɯːʔ
菜	*sʰɯːs
埰	*sʰɯːs
棌	*sʰɯːs

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *sʰɯːs) : semantic 艸 (“grass; plant”) + phonetic 采 (OC *sʰɯːʔ).

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 菜

1. vegetable; greens (Classifier: 條／条 c)

   蔬菜  ―  shūcài  ―  vegetables

   白菜  ―  báicài  ―  Chinese cabbage

   菠菜  ―  bōcài  ―  spinach

2. cuisine; (type of) food

   日本菜  ―  rìběn cài  ―  Japanese food

3. dish; course (Classifier: 盤／盘 m; 道 m)

   這道菜很對胃口。 [MSC, trad.]
   这道菜很对胃口。 [MSC, simp.]

   Zhè dào 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.

   • 我在考慮我晚飯做什麼菜。 [MSC, trad.]
     我在考虑我晚饭做什么菜。 [MSC, simp.]

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

     I'm wondering what to cook for dinner.

4. (colloquial) (one's) type; cup of tea
   • 他是我的菜！  ―  Tā shì wǒ de cài!  ―  He is my type!
5. (colloquial) bad; inferior; disappointing; below average

   菜鳥／菜鸟  ―  càiniǎo  ―  noob

   我好菜啊。  ―  Wǒ hǎo cài a.  ―  I'm so inferior [to others].

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 菜 (“dish; vegetable or meat dish”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		菜餚, 菜品, 菜蔬
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	菜
	Taiwan	菜
	Singapore	菜
Jilu Mandarin	Tianjin	菜
	Jinan	菜
Central Plains Mandarin	Xi'an	菜
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	菜
	Wuhan	菜
	Guilin	菜
Jianghuai Mandarin	Yangzhou	菜
	Hefei	菜
Cantonese	Guangzhou	餸, 餸菜
	Hong Kong	餸, 餸菜
	Hong Kong (Kam Tin Weitou)	餸菜
	Macau	餸
	Guangzhou (Panyu)	餸
	Guangzhou (Huashan, Huadu)	餸
	Guangzhou (Conghua)	餸
	Guangzhou (Zengcheng)	餸
	Foshan	餸
	Foshan (Shatou, Nanhai)	餸
	Foshan (Shunde)	餸
	Foshan (Sanshui)	餸
	Foshan (Mingcheng, Gaoming)	餸
	Zhongshan (Shiqi)	餸
	Zhuhai (Qianshan, Xiangzhou)	餸
	Zhuhai (Shangheng, Doumen; Tanka)	餸
	Zhuhai (Doumen)	餸
	Jiangmen (Baisha)	餸
	Jiangmen (Xinhui)	餸
	Taishan	餸, 餸菜
	Kaiping (Chikan)	餸
	Enping (Niujiang)	餸
	Heshan (Yayao)	餸
	Dongguan	餸
	Shenzhen (Shajing, Bao'an)	餸
	Yangjiang	餸
	Beihai	餸
	Beihai (Qiaogang - Cô Tô)	菜
	Beihai (Qiaogang - Cát Bà)	菜
	Fangchenggang (Fangcheng)	菜
	Sanya (Yanglan Maihua)	菜餸
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	餸
	Singapore (Guangfu)	餸
	Ho Chi Minh City (Guangfu)	餸
	Móng Cái	菜
Gan	Nanchang	菜
Hakka	Meixian	菜
Jin	Taiyuan	菜
Northern Min	Jian'ou	菜
	Songxi	菜
	Jianyang	菜
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	配
	Gutian	配飯菜
	Fuding	乇配
Southern Min	Xiamen	物配, 菜配, 菜
	Quanzhou	物配, 菜
	Yongchun	菜
	Zhangzhou	物配
	Singapore (Hokkien)	物配, 菜配
	Manila (Hokkien)	物配
	Longyan	配
	Zhangping (Yongfu)	配
	Chaozhou	物配
	Jieyang	物配
	Leizhou	物配, 配
Puxian Min	Putian	物配
Central Min	Yong'an	菜
	Sanming (Shaxian)	配
Zhongshan Min	Zhongshan (Longdu, Shaxi)	配
Wu	Shanghai	小菜
	Suzhou	小菜
	Jiaxing	鹹酸
	Shaoxing	下飯
	Ningbo	下飯, 菜蔬, 小菜 rare
	Zhoushan	下飯, 菜蔬, 小菜 rare
	Wenzhou	配, 餚配
Xiang	Changsha	菜
	Shuangfeng	菜

• (cuisine): 餐 (cān)

Further reading

• “Entry #8956”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Kanji

菜

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. greens; vegetables
2. rape (Brassica napus); rapeseed
3. side dish

Readings

• Go-on: さい (sai, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: さい (sai, Jōyō)
• Kun: な (na, 菜, Jōyō)

Compounds

Compounds

• 菜箸(さいばし) (saibashi)
• 甜菜(てんさい) (tensai, “sugar beet”)
• 白菜(はくさい) (hakusai, “bok choy”)
• 野(や)菜(さい) (yasai)

Kanji in this term
菜
な Grade: 4
kun'yomi

Noun

菜(な) • (na) 

1. greens

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 蕪(かぶ)菜(な) (kabuna), 蕪(かぶら)菜(な) (kaburana): turnip
• 小(こ)松(まつ)菜(な) (komatsuna): komatsuna
• 菘(すずな) (suzuna), 鈴(すず)菜(な) (suzuna): turnip

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Korean

Hanja

菜 • (chae) (hangeul 채)

1. An edible plant or leaf of plant. greens; vegetables

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Vietnamese

Han character

(deprecated template usage) 菜 (thái, thủy, linh, lê)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.