菜叶 (cài xié) — vegetable leaf; leaf of a leafy green | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

vegetable leafleaf of a leafy green

Measure word · 片

Examples

菜叶。
Mā ma bǎ cài xié xǐ gān jìng le.
Mom washed the vegetable leaves clean.
菜叶，。
Zhè xiē cài xié hěn xīn xiān, kě yǐ yòng lái zuò tāng.
These vegetable leaves are very fresh; they can be used to make soup.
菜叶。
Tù zi zuì xǐ huan chī cài xié le.
Rabbits love to eat vegetable leaves the most.

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 names the plant food and 叶 names the leaf, so it is a leaf from 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.

口十叶

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

十

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The form 叶 pairs 口 (mouth) with 十 (ten) as an old form meaning cooperate; it later came to mean leaf because it sounded similar.

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