How to Say "Cheese" in Mandarin

奶酪

nǎilào/naɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ lɑʊ̯⁵¹/

In Mandarin, cheese is 奶酪 (nǎilào). Wiktionary also lists 酪 (lào) and 乾酪 / 干酪 (gānlào).

Meaning: dairy product (noun)

Ways to say it

“cheese” in Mandarin
Mandarin	Romanization (Wiktionary)	IPA	Note
奶酪	nǎilào	/naɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ lɑʊ̯⁵¹/ (Mandarin, Standard Chinese, Mainland China, Sinological IPA) /naɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ lu̯ɔ⁵¹/ (Mandarin, Standard Chinese, Taiwan, Sinological IPA)
酪	lào	/lɑʊ̯⁵¹/ (Mandarin, Standard Chinese, Mainland China, Sinological IPA) /lu̯ɔ⁵¹/ (Mandarin, Standard Chinese, Taiwan, Sinological IPA)
乾酪 / 干酪	gānlào
乳酪	rǔlào	/ɻu²¹⁴⁻²¹ lɑʊ̯⁵¹/ (Mandarin, Standard Chinese, Mainland China, Sinological IPA) /ɻu²¹⁴⁻²¹ lu̯ɔ⁵¹/ (Mandarin, Standard Chinese, Taiwan, Sinological IPA)
芝士	zhīshì	/ʈ͡ʂɻ̩⁵⁵ ʂɻ̩⁵¹/ (Mandarin, Standard Chinese, Sinological IPA) /t͡siː⁵⁵ siː²²⁻³⁵/ (Cantonese, Guangzhou, Sinological IPA, Standard Cantonese, Hong Kong)
起司	qǐsī	/t͡ɕʰi²¹⁴⁻²¹ sɹ̩⁵⁵/ (Mandarin, Standard Chinese, Sinological IPA) /t͡ɕʰi⁵¹ sɹ̩¹/ (Mandarin, Standard Chinese, Sinological IPA)
起士	qǐshì	/t͡ɕʰi²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʂɻ̩⁵¹/ (Mandarin, Standard Chinese, Sinological IPA) /t͡sʰi³¹ sɨ¹¹/ (Hakka, Sixian, Miaoli, Neipu, Sinological IPA)
吉士	jíshì	/t͡ɕi³⁵ ʂɻ̩⁵¹/ (Mandarin, Standard Chinese, Sinological IPA)
奶酪	ni-lo̍k	/nĩ⁴⁴⁻²² lɔk̚⁴/ (Min Nan, Hokkien, Xiamen, Sinological IPA)	Hokkien

The term refers to the dairy product.

芝士 and 起司 are often used interchangeably in daily conversation as phonetic loanwords. 干酪 is a more formal way to refer to the dairy product.

芝士 is a term for cheese commonly used in Hong Kong and some southern regions of China. The form нэло is used in Dungan.

ni-lo̍k (/naɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ lɑʊ̯⁵¹/)

In Mandarin, people instead say 茄子 (eggplant), as the sound of the word mimics the wide mouth shape of a smile.

The word 酪 may be a cognate of the Mongolian 'ajrag' and Turkish 'ayran', which both refer to fermented milk products.
Some of the phonetic forms like 吉士 are so integrated into certain styles of cooking that they are treated as standard nouns rather than foreign imports.
In certain Chinese culinary contexts, the character 酪 can refer to a variety of fermented or thickened dairy products, not just Western-style cheese.

奶酪是黄色的。
The cheese is yellow.
This sentence shows the color of the 奶酪.
Tatoeba #2777863 by iMaple, translation #2771791 by carlosalberto
汤姆喜欢芝士。
Tom likes cheese.
This sentence expresses a preference for 芝士.
Tatoeba #6192370 by yuiyu, translation #37244 by CK
那聞起來像奶酪。
That smells like cheese.
This sentence describes a scent similar to 奶酪.
Tatoeba #5973322 by xjjAstrus, translation #10276494 by DaoSeng
我喜欢吃干酪。
I like to eat cheese.
请给我一块起司。
Please give me a piece of cheese.
我们今晚吃披萨，上面有奶酪。
We're having pizza tonight, and it has cheese on top.
这个蛋糕外面铺满了芝士。
This cake is covered with cheese on the outside.
30 more sentences on Tatoeba

Two friends are choosing snacks at a grocery store.

佳怡 Jiayi

你想吃奶酪吗？
Nǐ xiǎng chī nǎilào ma?
Do you want to eat cheese?
俊杰 Junjie

我想吃，可是我不喜欢这种奶酪。
Wǒ xiǎng chī, kěshì wǒ bù xǐhuān zhè zhǒng nǎilào.
I want to eat some, but I don't like this kind of cheese.
佳怡 Jiayi

那我们试试这种奶酪吧。
Nà wǒmen shìshì zhè zhǒng nǎilào ba.
Then let's try this cheese.
俊杰 Junjie

好啊，俊杰帮你拿。
Hǎo a, Jùnjié bāng nǐ ná.
Okay, Junjie will get it for you.

Sources

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