菜豆 (cài dòu) — kidney bean (dried seeds of Phaseolus vulgaris)…

Definition

noun

kidney bean (dried seeds of Phaseolus vulgaris)string bean (fresh pods of the common bean)

菜豆，。
Wǒ xǐ huan chī cài dòu, tè bié shì chǎo ròu de shí hou.
I like eating string beans, especially when stir-fried with meat.
菜豆，。
Zhè xiē cài dòu hěn xīn xiān, wǒ mǎi le liǎng jīn.
These kidney beans are very fresh; I bought two jin.
菜豆。
cài dòu Kě yǐ zhǔ tāng huò zhě chǎo cài chī.
Kidney beans can be boiled in soup or stir-fried as a dish.

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

A 豆 (bean) grown or eaten as a 菜 (vegetable).

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

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.

豆 originally drew some kind of container. It was borrowed for its sound to write the plant name, so the picture and the meaning are unrelated.