choy sum

English

Alternative forms

• choi sum

Etymology

Borrowed from Cantonese 菜心 (coi3 sam1, literally “vegetable heart”).

Noun

choy sum (uncountable)

1. A Chinese vegetable, a variety of Brassica rapa parachinensis subspecies, similar to bok choy but slimmer, with smooth green leaves and pale green stems, and clusters of flowers on the tips of the inner shoots

Synonyms

• (Brassica rapa parachinensis): Chinese flowering cabbage, caixin

Translations

vegetable

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 菜心 (coi³ sam¹)

  Mandarin: 菜心 (zh) (càixīn)

  Min Nan: 菜心 (chhài-sim)

• Japanese: 菜心 (さいしん, saishin)

References

• Marie Claire Food + Drink by Michele Cranston (Murdoch Books, 2001)

Further reading

• Brassica rapa subsp. pekinensis on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Chinese cabbage on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Yochums, chymous