美食

美食

Chinese

		beautiful; beauty; America	eat; food; to feed eat; food; to feed; animal feed
simp. and trad. (美食)		美	食

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): měishí

  (Zhuyin): ㄇㄟˇ ㄕˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): mei⁵ sik⁶
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): mî-sṳ̍t
• Min Nan (POJ): bí-si̍t

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: měishí
    • Zhuyin: ㄇㄟˇ ㄕˊ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: meeishy
    • IPA ^(key): /meɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹¹ ʂʐ̩³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: mei⁵ sik⁶
    • Yale: méih sihk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: mei⁵ sik⁹
    • Guangdong Romanization: méi⁵ xig⁶
    • IPA ^(key): /mei̯¹³ sɪk̚²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: mî-sṳ̍t
    • Hakka Romanization System: mi´ siid
    • Hagfa Pinyim: mi¹ sid⁶
    • IPA: /mi²⁴⁻¹¹ sɨt̚⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bí-si̍t
    • Tâi-lô: bí-si̍t
    • Phofsit Daibuun: bysit
    • IPA (Xiamen): /bi⁵³⁻⁴⁴ ɕit̚⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /bi⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ ɕit̚²⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /bi⁵³⁻⁴⁴ ɕit̚¹²¹/
    • IPA (Taipei): /bi⁵³⁻⁴⁴ ɕit̚⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /bi⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ ɕit̚⁴/

Noun

美食

1. delicious food

Usage notes

There is no exact equivalent for English food in Chinese. The most generic term for food is 食物 (shíwù). Use 食品 (shípǐn) for food products, 菜餚／菜肴 (càiyáo) for dishes of food, 美食 (měishí) when the taste of the food is emphasised and 吃的 (chīde) in colloquial contexts. For food as in cuisine, consider 菜 (cài) or 料理 (liàolǐ).

Derived terms

美食家 (měishíjiā)

美食街 (měishíjiē)