kan4芹
Jyutpingkan4
Yalekàhn
Definition
Celery; a type of vegetable with a distinct aroma.
neutralfood
How it's used
Celery is almost always referred to as 芹菜 in daily life, as the single character 芹 is rarely used on its own to describe the vegetable in a culinary context. It is frequently associated with its strong, distinct aroma which can be polarizing for some eaters. When shopping or cooking, you will find it commonly categorized into the thinner, more fragrant Chinese variety or the thicker, crunchier Western type.
Measure word
fo2棵fóExamples
This stalk of celery is very fresh.
Do you like eating celery?
Related words
Common mistake
Avoid using 芹 alone when ordering food or talking about groceries, as it sounds incomplete or overly formal. Always add 菜 to make it 芹菜 for natural speech.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- Directional complementsThe small words added after a verb to show direction of movement, like up, down, out, in, and back. Common in everyday Cantonese.
- DemonstrativesThis and that with 呢 and 嗰, the personal pronouns, and how 哋 turns I, you, and he into we, you all, and they.
- Resultative complementsSticking a result word onto a verb to show how it turned out, like eat until full or look and find. A productive everyday pattern.
