Chinese word

分菜

Pronunciation

Pinyinfēn cài

Meaning

  • verbserve

Example

服务员帮我们分菜了。fú wù yuán bāng wǒ men fēn cài le

The waiter helped serve us the food.

Illustration for 分菜 (serve)

More examples

吃火锅的时候，我们轮流分菜比较方便。chī huǒ guō de shí hòu wǒ men lún liú fēn cài bǐ jiào fāng biàn

When we eat hot pot, it is more convenient for us to take turns dishing out the food.

Core concept

Shared food moves from a central dish into each diner's bowl or plate.

Common phrases

  • 请帮我分菜qǐng bāng wǒ fēn cài

    Please help me dish out the food

  • 大家自己分菜dà jiā zì jǐ fēn cài

    everyone dishes out their own food

  • 轮流分菜lún liú fēn cài

    take turns dishing out the food

Similar words

夹菜jiā cài: Use chopsticks to move a piece of food from a shared dish to one's own bowl or plate.
取菜qǔ cài: Take food from a table dish for one's own meal.
分享fēn xiǎng: Give part of one's food or possessions to others to enjoy together.

Definition in Chinese

把公用的菜肴按人数或需要分到各人的碗盘里。bǎ gōng yòng de cài yáo àn rén shù huò xū yào fēn dào gè rén de wǎn pán lǐ

Word origin

分菜 (fēncài, "serve food") combines 分 (fēn, "divide") + 菜 (cài, "dish or food"), so its literal structure names dividing shared food into portions.

Usage tips

  • English serve covers both bringing food and putting portions on plates, so this verb marks the table-side portioning sense in everyday conversation.

Other meanings

  • servingnoun

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