漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food
菜: vegetable, side dish
Also: greens
JLPT N211 strokesGrade 4Your ink: 白 Not met
艹 carries the meaning · 采 gives the sound
11 strokes
Small seal · Qin Today
Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Two readings, and the words that use each
サイsai · on'yomi · in compounds
- 菜園さいえんvegetable garden
- 菜食主義さいしょくしゅぎvegetarianism
- 野菜やさいvegetable
- 白菜はくさいChinese cabbage
- 山菜さんさいedible wild plants
- 前菜ぜんさいrelishes, hors d'oeuvres
- 惣菜そうざいeveryday household dish
なna · kun'yomi · on its own
- 菜の花なのはなrape blossoms
- 菜っ葉なっぱrape leaves, greens
- 青菜あおなgreens
Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.
成り立ち
Where it comes from
Memory story · made up to help you remember
“Grass growing on top! Like a green crown upon the earth, this radical sits above kanji related to flowers, herbs, and vegetation.”
繋がり
Connections
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
Easy to confuse
The difference, side by side菜 vegetable · 艹
vs採 pick · 扌In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · cài
Same form: 菜 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).
- Simplified
- 菜 mainland China, Singapore
- Traditional
- 菜 Taiwan, Hong Kong
Pinyin cài most common reading
Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.
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