How is 菜 pronounced?

菜 is pronounced “cài” in pinyin.

What HSK level is 菜?

菜 belongs to HSK 1 in the HSK 3.0 vocabulary.

How do you write 菜?

Follow the stroke-order animation above; 菜 is written using standard stroke order. Practice it in the writing trainer.

HSK 1noun

菜

cài

菜 (cài) means “dish (type of food); vegetable; cuisine; (coll.) (one's) type; (of one's skills etc) weak; poor”. It is an HSK 1 Chinese character in the HSK 3.0 vocabulary.

Measure word: 盘,道

Stroke order

Practice writing

Example

多吃蔬菜。

Duō chī shūcài.

Eat more vegetables.

Words containing 菜

菜单cài dānmenu 蔬菜shū càivegetables 白菜bái càiChinese cabbage; pak choi

More HSK 1 vocabulary

HSK 1 →

爱àito love; to be fond of; to like; affection; to be inclined (to do sth); to tend to (happen)的deof; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute); (used to form a nominal expression); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); also pr. [dì] or [di] in poetry and songs 八bāeight; 8 爸爸bà ba(coll.) father; dad 了le(completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause)我wǒI; me; my 杯子bēi zicup; glass 是shìto be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion)你好nǐ hǎohello 北京běi jīngBeijing, capital of the People's Republic of China 你nǐyou (informal, as opposed to courteous 您)在zàito exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress)

Frequently asked questions

What does 菜 mean?: 菜 (cài) means “dish (type of food); vegetable; cuisine; (coll.) (one's) type; (of one's skills etc) weak; poor”. It is an HSK 1 word.
How is 菜 pronounced?: 菜 is pronounced “cài” in pinyin.
What HSK level is 菜?: 菜 belongs to HSK 1 in the HSK 3.0 vocabulary.
How do you write 菜?: Follow the stroke-order animation above; 菜 is written using standard stroke order. Practice it in the writing trainer.

Updated: 2026-05-27