主菜 (zhǔ cài) — main course, entrée | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

main courseentrée

Measure word · 道

Examples

主菜。
Jīn wǎn de zhǔ cài shì niú pái.
Tonight's main course is steak.
主菜。
Zhè dào zhǔ cài wèi dào hěn hǎo.
This main dish tastes very good.
、主菜。
Tào cān bāo kuò tāng, zhǔ cài hé tián diǎn.
The set meal includes soup, a main course, and dessert.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

主 (main) + 菜 (dish) means the principal dish of a meal.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The old forms that became 主 showed a lamp or torch with a flame at the top; other forms showed wood on fire or a spirit tablet.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

艹采菜

Meaning part形符xíngfú

艹Written in full as艸cǎograss; plant

Sound part声符shēngfú

采

采cǎi菜cài

Same sound today

菜 has 艹 (grass/plants) on top and 采 below; the top part shows it is a plant, while 采 gives the sound.

Appears in

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