Chinese Food Vocabulary — 80 Dishes with Pinyin

The reusable parts of a dish name

Start with the ingredient, then look for how it is prepared or served. The words below occur in the dish list. Each has its own reading and dictionary meaning, so you can recognize the part as well as learn the whole dish. Follow a word for its full dictionary entry and other meanings.

鸡 jī

Chicken

牛肉 niúròu

Beef

鱼 yú

Fish

豆腐 dòufu

Tofu^†

蛋 dàn

Egg

肉 ròu

Meat

炒 chǎo

Fry

蒸 zhēng

Steam

烤 kǎo

Roast

饭 fàn

Meal

汤 tāng

Soup

Read the parts, then check the whole dish

Compare 口水鸡 (kǒushuǐ jī, Mouthwatering Chicken) with 辣子鸡 (làzǐ jī, Chili Chicken). Both names end in 鸡. That shared ingredient helps you recognize the pair, while the full names distinguish two different dishes.

In 蛋炒饭 (dàn chǎofàn, Egg Fried Rice), you can spot three parts: 蛋 + 炒 + 饭. Compare it with 扬州炒饭 (yángzhōu chǎofàn, Yangzhou Fried Rice): the last two characters repeat, while the first part changes.

Now find 牛肉 in 水煮牛肉 (shuǐzhǔ niúròu, Poached Beef in Chili Oil) and 牛肉面 (niúròu miàn, Beef Noodle Soup). Recognize the whole ingredient word rather than treating every character as a separate food. The remaining characters tell you these are different kinds of dishes.