菜单
cài dān · HSK 2
menu
📋🍽️ 菜 (dish) + 单 (list) = menu, a list of dishes
菜 means vegetable or dish; 单 means single sheet or list. Together they form the list of dishes you order from. The same 单 appears in 名单 (name list) and 账单 (bill).
菜 — grass radical 艹 + 采 (pick)
菜 combines the grass radical 艹 (plants) with 采, which depicts a hand picking fruit from a tree and also supplies the sound. Originally meaning edible plants one gathers, it came to mean vegetables, and by extension any dish or cuisine.
单 — 叩 (two mouths 口) over 甲 (shield/armor)
Originally a pictograph of a forked hunting weapon or shield with two prongs at the top. The ancient form shows a Y-shaped tool, later stylized into the modern shape. The meaning shifted from the weapon to 'single' or 'one,' possibly because it was a single-handed tool.
cài dān · HSK 3
menu
📋 菜 (dish) + 单 (list) = list of dishes = menu
菜 means vegetable or dish, and 单 means a single sheet or list (as in 名单 name-list, 账单 bill). Together a 菜单 is literally a dish-list — the printed list of dishes a restaurant offers.
菜 — grass radical 艹 + 采 (pick)
菜 combines the grass radical 艹 (plants) with 采, which depicts a hand picking fruit from a tree and also supplies the sound. Originally meaning edible plants one gathers, it came to mean vegetables, and by extension any dish or cuisine.
单 — 叩 (two mouths 口) over 甲 (shield/armor)
Originally a pictograph of a forked hunting weapon or shield with two prongs at the top. The ancient form shows a Y-shaped tool, later stylized into the modern shape. The meaning shifted from the weapon to 'single' or 'one,' possibly because it was a single-handed tool.
cài dān · HSK 3
menu
📋 菜单 = 菜 (dish) + 单 (list) — a list of dishes
菜 means vegetable or dish, and 单 means a single sheet or list (as in 名单 name-list, 账单 bill). Together they form the standard word for a restaurant menu — literally a dish-list.
菜 — grass radical 艹 + 采 (pick)
菜 combines the grass radical 艹 (plants) with 采, which depicts a hand picking fruit from a tree and also supplies the sound. Originally meaning edible plants one gathers, it came to mean vegetables, and by extension any dish or cuisine.
单 — 叩 (two mouths 口) over 甲 (shield/armor)
Originally a pictograph of a forked hunting weapon or shield with two prongs at the top. The ancient form shows a Y-shaped tool, later stylized into the modern shape. The meaning shifted from the weapon to 'single' or 'one,' possibly because it was a single-handed tool.