Meaning of 茄子
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- eggplant (Solanum melongena L.)
- aubergine
- brinjal
- Guinea squash
- phonetic "cheese" (when being photographed)
- equivalent of "say cheese"
How to use 茄子
茄子 is the everyday word for eggplant and appears often on menus, as in the classic dish 鱼香茄子 (yúxiāng qiézi). Chinese people also say 茄子 when taking photos because the ending sound stretches the mouth into a smile, just like "cheese". Example: 大家看镜头，一二三，茄子。(Dàjiā kàn jìngtóu, yī èr sān, qiézi.) Everyone look at the camera, one two three, cheese.
茄 (qié) has the grass radical 艹 on top, marking it as a plant, and 加 (jiā) below, which hints at the sound. Picture a plant that keeps adding (加) heavy purple fruit, and you have 茄子, the eggplant.
Common mistake: Learners often read 茄 as jiā because of the 加 part. In 茄子 it is qié, second tone, and 子 is a light neutral tone zi. A related trap is 番茄 (fānqié), which means tomato, not a kind of eggplant.
茄子 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.
茄 jiā · eggplant · 8 strokes
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- 2
- 3
- 4
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- 8
子 zi · noun suffix · 3 strokes
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- 3
Related words
Words that share a character with 茄子.
Questions about 茄子
What does 茄子 mean?
茄子 (qiézi) means "eggplant (Solanum melongena L.); aubergine" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 茄子?
茄子 is made of 2 characters: 茄 (8 strokes), 子 (3 strokes). That is 11 strokes in total.
Is 茄子 an HSK word?
Yes. 茄子 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 茄子 and 番茄?
茄子 (qiézi) is eggplant. 番茄 (fānqié) is tomato, also called 西红柿 (xīhóngshì). They share the character 茄 because both plants belong to the same plant family.
Why do Chinese people say 茄子 when taking a photo?
Saying qiézi pulls the corners of the mouth back, which makes a natural smile. It works the same way as saying "cheese" in English, and the two words also sound a little alike.