cài

vegetable; greens (CL:棵[ke1])

dish (of food) (CL:樣|样[yang4],道[dao4],盤|盘[pan2]); (of one's skills etc) weak; poor; (coll.) (one's) type

grass (艹) + phonetic (采) = vegetable or dish

The grass radical roots 菜 in the plant world. 采 mainly contributes the sound cài; the plant crown carries the meaning.

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GrassSemantic
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Words with 菜

瓜菜

guā cài

fruit and vegetables

通心菜

tōng xīn cài

see 蕹菜[weng4 cai4]

通菜

tōng cài

see 蕹菜[weng4 cai4]

配菜

pèi cài

side dish

酒菜

jiǔ cài

food and drink

酸菜

suān cài

pickled vegetables, especially Chinese cabbage

野菜

yě cài

wild herb

金针菜

jīn zhēn cài

day lily (Hemerocallis), used in Chinese medicine and cuisine

开胃菜

kāi wèi cài

starter

闽菜

mǐn cài

Fujian cuisine

雪菜

xuě cài

see 雪裡蕻|雪里蕻[xue3 li3 hong2]

电子榨菜

diàn zǐ zhà cài

(slang) entertaining content such as Internet videos and TV shows that people watch while eating

More characters with 艹