辣椒
làjiāo
In Chinese, 'chilli' is said as 辣椒 (làjiāo).
The term refers to a small spicy vegetable used in cooking to add heat to food. If you want to say 'spicy', you can use the character 辣 (là). To express the action of adding chilli to a dish, you can use the phrase 放辣椒 (fàng làjiāo). If you are looking for chilli sauce, you can add 酱 (jiàng), meaning sauce, to the word to get 辣椒酱.
What does it mean word for word?
The word 辣椒 consists of two parts: 辣 (là), which means 'spicy' and 椒 (jiāo), which refers to the fruit of the pepper plant or a pepper.
How do you pronounce it?
làjiāo
Did you know?
- Chinese cuisine distinguishes between 辣 (là), the burning heat of chilli, and 麻 (má), the tingling numbness of Szechuan peppercorns.
- In some regions of China, the word 辣 (là) is used as a metaphor to describe a person with a sharp, fiery or aggressive personality.
- In Hunan and Sichuan provinces, chilli is often used as a medicinal ingredient to dispel 'cold' from the body according to traditional beliefs.
Examples in context
- 请加点辣椒。Please add some chili.
- 我们需要一些红辣椒用于烹饪。We need some red chili peppers for cooking.
- 这道菜我加了很多辣子。I added a lot of chili to this dish.
- 请给我一勺辣椒粉。Please give me a spoonful of chili powder.
- 我喜欢吃辣椒。Wǒ xǐhuān chī làjiāo.I like eating chillies.
- 请给我一些辣椒。Qǐng gěi wǒ yīxiē làjiāo.Please give me some chillies.
- 这些辣椒很辣。Zhèxiē làjiāo hěn là.These chillies are very spicy.
Example conversation
A couple is cooking dinner together in the kitchen.
- 浩然 Haoran我们要放辣椒吗？Wǒmen yào fàng làjiāo ma?Should we add chillies?
- 晓雯 Xiaowen放一点吧，增加味道。Fàng yīdiǎn ba, zēngjiā wèidào.Add a little bit to enhance the flavor.
- 浩然 Haoran好，我把辣椒切了。Hǎo, wǒ bǎ làjiāo qiē le.Okay, I will chop the chillies.
- 晓雯 Xiaowen谢谢你，浩然。Xièxiè nǐ, Hàorán.Thank you, Haoran.
