菜市场

cài shì chǎng

food market

菜

cài

vegetable; greens (CL:棵[ke1])

市

shì

market

场

chǎng

large place used for a specific purpose

vegetables (菜) + market (市) + open ground (场) = food market

A vegetable market is a place with stalls selling greens on open ground. 采 gives 菜 its sound; 巾 in 市 may echo the cloth banners or awnings once hung over trading stalls; 勿 in 场 is phonetic, with 土 grounding the word in an open earthen space.