菜园 (cài yuán) — vegetable garden | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

vegetable garden

Measure word · 个

Examples

。
Wǒ jiā yǒu yí gè xiǎo cài yuán.
My family has a small vegetable garden.
菜园。
Nǎi nai zài cài yuán lǐ zhǒng le hěn duō qīng cài.
Grandma planted a lot of greens in the vegetable garden.
，菜园。
Qiū tiān de shí hou, cài yuán lǐ de shū cài dōu chéng shú le.
In autumn, the vegetables in the garden are all ripe.

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 means vegetable and 园 means garden, giving a garden for vegetables.

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.

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

囗元园

Meaning part形符xíngfú

囗囗wéi

Sound part声符shēngfú

元

元yuán园yuán

Same sound today

In 园, 元 sits inside 囗, and 元 gives the sound.

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.