菜刀 (cài dāo) — kitchen knife | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

kitchen knife

Measure word · 把

Examples

菜刀。
Wǒ zài chāo shì mǎi le yì bǎ xīn cài dāo.
I bought a new kitchen knife at the supermarket.
菜刀。
Qǐng yòng cài dāo qiē cài.
Please use the kitchen knife to cut vegetables.
菜刀。
Zhè bǎ cài dāo hěn fēng lì.
This kitchen knife is very sharp.

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.

菜càivegetable

菜 marks the food context and 刀 is a knife, so it is a knife for cutting food.

Characters in this word

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.

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

The shape of 刀 comes from a simple picture of a knife.

Appears in

Kitchenware & Tableware

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