HSK 3 · Food

菜单 càidān “menu” in Chinese

Traditional 菜單

What 菜单 means

  1. menu

Measure word 份 fèn or 张 zhāng · 一份菜单 yí fèn càidān

How to say 菜单

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale菜cài4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale单dān1st tone, high and level

菜单 in a sentence

  1. 服务员，请给我们菜单。

    Fúwùyuán, qǐng gěi wǒmen càidān.

    Waiter, could we have the menu, please?

    Sentence #11837290 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他们在餐厅里看菜单。

    Tāmen zài cāntīng lǐ kàn càidān.

    They’re looking at the menu in the restaurant.

    Sentence #2200447 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 这是你的菜单。

    Zhè shì nǐ de càidān.

    Here is your menu.

    Sentence #3478397 from Tatoeba

How 菜单 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 菜 (cài) with each of its parts in a different colour
菜càivegetable; greens
  • 艹grass form of 艸 · cǎoMeaning part
  • 采to collect · cǎiSound part

艹 hints at the meaning (grass); 采 (cǎi) hints at the sound. Compare it with cài.

Memory aidPlants 艹 that you pick 采: vegetables, a dish.

The character 单 (dān) drawn as one shape
单dānbill

单 is a single shape of 8 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 菜单

菜 11 strokes · 单 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 菜单

Words with 菜

菜cài · dish蔬菜shūcài · vegetables

Words with 单

简单jiǎndān · simple名单míngdān · list of names单纯dānchún · simple单调dāndiào · monotonous单位dānwèi · unit (of measurement)单元dānyuán · unit (forming an entity)单独dāndú · alone传单chuándān · leaflet床单chuángdān · bed sheet

More words: Food & Drink

面miàn · noodles奶茶nǎichá · milk tea肉ròu · meat饱bǎo · eat until full蛋糕dàngāo · cake饿è · hungry渴kě · thirsty面包miànbāo · bread

FAQs

菜单 (càidān) means “menu”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it càidān: cài with a 4th tone, then dān with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 菜单 is written 菜單. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 份 (fèn) or 张 (zhāng). For example, one menu is 一份菜单 (yí fèn càidān).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type caidan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 菜单 from the suggestions. Typing caidan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
菜单 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.