HSK 5 · Food

醋 cù “vinegar” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 醋 means

  1. vinegar
  2. jealousy (in love rivalry)

How to say 醋

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale醋cù4th tone, falling

醋 in a sentence

  1. 我们需要买醋。

    Wǒmen xūyào mǎi cù.

    We need to buy vinegar.

    Sentence #2675087 from Tatoeba

  2. 今天晚上吃糖醋排骨。

    Jīntiān wǎnshang chī tángcù páigǔ.

    We’re having sweet and sour pork ribs tonight.

    Sentence #6129093 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 他跟其他女生说话我会吃醋。

    Tā gēn qítā nǚshēng shuōhuà wǒ huì chīcù.

    I get jealous when he talks to other girls.

    Sentence #14007080 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

How 醋 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 醋 (cù) with each of its parts in a different colour
醋cùvinegar
  • 酉wine vessel · yǒu
  • 昔past · xī

How to write 醋

醋 15 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

醋 (cù) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 醋 (cù). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 醋

More words: Food & Dining

冰激凌bīngjīlíng · ice cream叉子chāzi · fork炒chǎo · to sauté点心diǎnxin · light refreshments豆腐dòufu · tofu锅guō · pot果实guǒshí · fruit (of a plant)滋味zīwèi · taste

FAQs

醋 (cù) means “vinegar” or “jealousy (in love rivalry)”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it cù: cù with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 醋 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type cu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 醋 from the suggestions. Typing cu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
醋 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.