Definition
菜 (cài) is the everyday word for a dish (prepared food) or a vegetable. Unlike 菜肴 (cài yáo), which is a more formal/literary term for a dish at a meal, 菜 is used in general conversation for any food item. It also differs from 盘子 (pán zi), which means the physical plate or dishware.
noun
dishvegetablecuisine
Measure word · 盘, 道
Easily confused
- 踩cǎilook-aliketo step on; to tread on
- 才cáisound-alike(adverb, before quantity) only, merely
- 才cáisound-aliketalent, ability
- 猜cāisound-aliketo guess
- 采cǎisound-aliketo pick, to pluck (flowers, fruit, tea)
- 裁cáisound-aliketo cut (fabric, paper, etc.)
Examples
- 菜。Zhège cài hěn hǎochī.This dish is delicious.
- 菜。Wǒ māma zuò de cài hěn hǎochī.My mom's cooking is delicious.
- 菜。Wǒ xiǎng chī cài hé mǐfàn.I want to eat vegetables and rice.
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