菜 cài — vegetable · English

菜

cài

vegetable

At a glance · 菜

Listen

Audio is synthesized in your browser: Mandarin for the character and Shuowen text, native voices for every translation. No downloads.

Evolution of the glyph

Five stages, from a sketch of the real object to regular script — tap a stage, drag the timeline, or play the animation.

Object sketchBefore writing · drawing what was seen
Oracle boneShang dynasty · c. 1300–1046 BCE
Seal scriptQin dynasty · 221–206 BCE
Clerical scriptHan dynasty · 206 BCE–220 CE
Regular scriptWei–Jin to Tang · c. 3rd–9th century CE

Object sketchBefore writing · drawing what was seenOracle boneShang dynasty · c. 1300–1046 BCESeal scriptQin dynasty · 221–206 BCEClerical scriptHan dynasty · 206 BCE–220 CERegular scriptWei–Jin to Tang · c. 3rd–9th century CE

⚠ Some ancient forms are not attested：oracle bone form。No excavated oracle bone / seal artifact is attested for this character yet; we leave it blank rather than fabricate.

菜字小篆从艸采声，为形声字；本义为蔬菜。甲骨文未见。

What the sketch shows

Origins & notes

菜本义为蔬菜、菜蔬。

Structure

形声字，上部『艸』为意符表植物，下部『采』为声符。

At a glance

Pinyincài

Radical艹

Strokes12

UnicodeU+83DC

Character type形声

Theme植物

Six languages, one character

Each page offers hreflang versions; switching language keeps the glyphs and meanings aligned.

English vegetable Cai is a phonetic-semantic character meaning vegetable.

Français légume Cai est un caractère phonético-sémantique signifiant légume.

Español verdura Cai es un carácter fonosemántico que significa verdura.

العربية خضار تساي حرف صوتي دلالي يعني الخضار.

Русский овощ Цай — фоносемантический знак, означающий овощ.

Common words

蔬菜shū càivegetable
白菜bái càicabbage

◉ Listen