sou3 coi3素菜
Jyutpingsou3 coi3
Yalesou choi
Definition
Vegetarian dish; a dish containing no meat.
colloquialfood
How it's used
Refers specifically to dishes prepared without meat, often found in Buddhist cuisine or health-conscious dining. It is common to pair this with classifiers like 味 or 碟 when ordering in a restaurant. Unlike the Mandarin term, it is used more broadly in casual conversation to describe any vegetable-based meal.
Measure word
mei2味méiExamples
The vegetarian dishes at this restaurant are very famous.
Related words
Common mistake
Avoid using it to describe a person who is a vegetarian, as that is 素食者. Using 素菜 to describe a person sounds like you are calling them a vegetable dish.
Grammar color guide
Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Pronoun
Classifier
Particle
Connector
Grammar guides
- Aspect markersCantonese has no tenses, but it does have aspect markers. Learn how zo2, gwo3, gan2, and hai2 dou6 show completion, experience, and ongoing action.
- In 30 secondsThe whole language at a glance. No tenses, no plurals, six tones, sentence particles. Read this before you dive into any specific topic.
- ParticlesSentence particles add tone, emotion, and nuance. Learn the most common particles in Cantonese and how to use them.
