蔬菜

shūcài

noun HSK 5 #5,170

Meanings

1 vegetables

Characters

vegetable; dish; cuisine

Both characters mean vegetables — together they form the general term.

Examples

多吃蔬菜对身体好。

Duō chī shūcài duì shēntǐ hǎo.

Eating more vegetables is good for your health.

今天蔬菜很新鲜。

Jīntiān shūcài hěn xīnxiān.

The vegetables are very fresh today.

超市里的蔬菜种类很多。

Chāoshì lǐ de shūcài zhǒnglèi hěn duō.

There are many kinds of vegetables in the supermarket.

Tips

usage

蔬菜 is the formal/general term. In everyday speech, people often just say 菜 (cài), which means both 'vegetable' and 'dish/cuisine.' 买菜 (mǎi cài, to buy groceries) doesn't mean 'buy only vegetables' — it means grocery shopping in general.

Stroke Order

蔬 shū

菜 cài