名菜 (míng cài) — famous dish (one that is well-known nationwide or regionally); specialty dish (a signature dish of a restaurant or area)

Definition

noun
famous dish (one that is well-known nationwide or regionally)specialty dish (a signature dish of a restaurant or area)
Measure word · 道

Examples

  • 名菜。
    Zhè jiā cān tīng yǒu hěn duō míng cài zhí dé yí shì.
    This restaurant has many famous dishes worth trying.
  • 名菜。
    Běi jīng de míng cài zhī yī shì běi jīng kǎo yā.
    One of Beijing's specialty dishes is Peking duck.
  • 名菜。
    Fú wù yuán xiàng wǒ men tuī jiàn le jǐ dào míng cài.
    The waiter recommended several famous dishes to us.

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.

名míngfamous
菜càidish

名 means famous and 菜 means dish, so 名菜 is a well-known or specialty dish.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

名 puts 夕 (crescent moon) above 口 (mouth), showing a name spoken in the dark.

Open 名 →

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

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.

Open 菜 →

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