Chinese word

菜系

Pronunciation

Pinyincài xì

Meaning

  • nouncuisine

Example

我们今天想试试不同的菜系。wǒ men jīn tiān xiǎng shì shì bù tóng de cài xì

We want to try different cuisines today.

Illustration for 菜系 (cuisine)

More examples

我喜欢尝试各地菜系的特色菜。wǒ xǐ huān cháng shì gè dì cài xì de tè sè cài

I like trying specialty dishes from different regional cuisines.

Core concept

A broad cooking style that gathers many dishes under a common regional or traditional identity.

Common phrases

  • 本地菜系běn dì cài xì

    local cuisine

  • 各地菜系gè dì cài xì

    regional cuisines

  • 特色菜系tè sè cài xì

    distinctive cuisines

Similar words

菜cài: A dish or food in general, without focusing on one particular type.
地方菜dì fāng cài: Cuisine or dishes associated with a particular region.

Definition in Chinese

表示按地域、口味或烹饪传统划分的料理类别或流派。biǎo shì àn dì yù kǒu wèi huò pēng rèn chuán tǒng huà fēn de liào lǐ lèi bié huò liú pài

Word origin

The compound 菜系 (càixì, "culinary system") uses 菜 (cài, "cuisine") for the food and 系 (xì, "system") for the grouping, so its structure points to a category rather than one dish.

Usage tips

  • In everyday restaurant talk, this word suits discussion of the kind of food a menu represents, not the name of one item being ordered.

Other meanings

  • culinary traditionnoun
  • cooking stylenoun

Word lists with this word