Meaning of 小吃
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- street food; snack
How to use 小吃
小吃 usually means local snacks and street food, like dumplings, skewers, or noodles sold at stalls and small shops. It often appears with place names to describe regional specialties. 这是北京有名的小吃。(Zhè shì Běijīng yǒumíng de xiǎochī.) This is a famous Beijing snack.
小 (xiǎo) means small and 吃 (chī) means to eat, so 小吃 is a small thing to eat. Picture yourself grabbing a little bite from a street stall instead of sitting down to a full meal.
Common mistake: Learners often use 小吃 for packaged snacks like chips or cookies. For those, Chinese speakers usually say 零食 (língshí), while 小吃 suggests freshly made local food. Also keep the third tone on 小 (xiǎo) and the first tone on 吃 (chī).
小吃 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
小 xiǎo · small · 3 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
吃 chī · to eat · 6 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
Related words
Words that share a character with 小吃.
| 小姐 | xiǎojiě | young lady; miss |
| 小时 | xiǎoshí | hour |
| 吃饭 | chīfàn | to have a meal; to eat |
| 好吃 | hǎochī | tasty; delicious |
| 小朋友 | xiǎopéngyǒu | child; kid (used to refer to a child, or by an adult to address a child, or, in Taiwan, to |
| 小学 | xiǎoxué | elementary school; primary school |
| 小孩儿 | xiǎoháir | erhua variant of 小孩[xiao3 hai2] |
| 小学生 | xiǎoxuéshēng | primary school student; schoolchild |
| 小心 | xiǎoxīn | to be careful; to take care |
| 小时候 | xiǎoshíhou | in one's childhood |
| 小组 | xiǎozǔ | group |
| 小说 | xiǎoshuō | novel; fiction |
Questions about 小吃
What does 小吃 mean?
小吃 (xiǎochī) means "street food; snack" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 小吃?
小吃 is made of 2 characters: 小 (3 strokes), 吃 (6 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 小吃 an HSK word?
Yes. 小吃 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Can 小吃 be a verb meaning to have a snack?
Not usually. 小吃 is a noun. To say you are having a snack, use a verb phrase like 吃点东西 (chī diǎn dōngxi) or 吃点小吃 (chī diǎn xiǎochī).
What is a 小吃街?
A 小吃街 (xiǎochī jiē) is a snack street, an area lined with food stalls and small eateries. Many Chinese cities have one, and they are popular with tourists.