Where 菜 comes from
plant
- Meaning part
- 艹 (“grass”)
- Sound part
- 采 (“to pick”)
How to write 菜 (cài, “vegetable”)
菜 (cài), an HSK 1 character, means “vegetable”, “dish” and “weak”. It pairs a meaning part, 艹 (“grass”), with a sound part, 采 (“to pick”). On its own it is an HSK 1 word; it also forms 菜单 (“menu”), 蔬菜 (“vegetables”) and 菜肴 (“vegetable and meat dishes”). Japanese reads it sai, “vegetable”, as a JLPT N2 kanji.
- Pinyin
- cài
- Strokes
- 11
- HSK
- 1
- Radical
- 艹 (“grass”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
As a top-bottom character it splits into 艹 (“grass”, the radical), strokes 1–3; 采 (“to pick”), strokes 4–11, written the top first.
- Horizontal ㇐top leftrightwards
- Vertical ㇑top leftdown and right
- Vertical ㇑topdown and right → downwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒topleftwards
- Dot ㇔leftdown and right
- Dot ㇔centerdown and right
- Left-falling stroke ㇒top rightdownwards → down and left
- Horizontal ㇐leftrightwards
- Vertical ㇑centerdownwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒centerdown and left
- Right-falling stroke ㇏centerdown and right
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 11 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| cài fourth tone | vegetable; greens; dish (of food); (of one's skills etc) weak; poor; (coll.) (one's) type | — | 菜单 蔬菜 菜肴 小菜一碟 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 1
- 2021 standard
- level 1
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 1 word
- Words with it
- 193 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 菜
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 菜 | cài | vegetable; greens HSK 1 |
| 菜单 菜單 | càidān | menu HSK 3 |
| 蔬菜 | shūcài | vegetables HSK 5 |
| 菜肴 菜餚 | càiyáo | vegetable and meat dishes; dish HSK 7-9 |
| 小菜一碟 | xiǎocài-yìdié | a small appetizer; a piece of cake HSK 7-9 |
| 上菜 | shàngcài | to serve food |
| 买菜 買菜 | mǎicài | to buy groceries |
| 什菜 | shícài | mixed vegetables |
| 做菜 | zuòcài | to cook; cooking |
| 冷菜 | lěngcài | cold dish; cold food |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
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Keep going
HSK 1, in list order: