Meaning of 醋
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- vinegar
- jealousy (in love rivalry)
How to use 醋
醋 is the everyday word for vinegar in cooking, and northern Chinese food often uses dark vinegar with dumplings. It also appears in 吃醋 (chīcù), meaning to feel jealous in love. 你吃醋了吗？(Nǐ chīcù le ma?) Are you jealous?
The left side 酉 is the old picture of a wine jar, used in characters about fermented things. On the right is 昔 (xī), which also gives the sound, so think of vinegar as wine left in the jar for a long time.
Common mistake: Learners often write the right side as 借 or 惜 without noticing that the left side must be 酉, not 亻 or 忄. Also say cù with a falling fourth tone, not cū, which sounds like 粗 (cū, thick or rough).
醋 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.
醋 cù · vinegar · 15 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 醋.
| 吃醋 | chīcù | to feel jealous (esp. because of a rival in love or affection) |
Questions about 醋
What does 醋 mean?
醋 (cù) means "vinegar; jealousy (in love rivalry)" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 醋?
醋 is made of 1 character: 醋 (15 strokes). That is 15 strokes in total.
Is 醋 an HSK word?
Yes. 醋 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does eating vinegar mean being jealous?
In Chinese, the sour taste of vinegar is linked to the sour feeling of jealousy. So 吃醋 literally means eating vinegar and is used for jealousy over a partner or someone you care about. It is common and usually light or teasing in tone.
What kinds of vinegar are common in China?
Two common ones are 陈醋 (chéncù), aged dark vinegar, and 香醋 (xiāngcù), fragrant black vinegar. White vinegar is called 白醋 (báicù).