咖啡豆
kāfēidòu
The English phrase 'coffee bean' is translated into Mandarin as 咖啡豆 (kāfēidòu).
咖啡豆 refers to the seed of a tropical plant of the genus Coffea.
Meaning: The seed of a tropical plant of the genus Coffea (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
The term is a compound of 咖啡 (kāfēi), which is a phonetic loan for 'coffee' and 豆 (dòu), meaning 'bean'.
How do you pronounce it?
kāfēidòu
Did you know?
- The character 豆 (dòu) in 咖啡豆 was not originally a plant. Ancient scripts show it was a pictogram of a ritual food vessel used in ceremonies, long before it meant 'bean' or 'legume'.
- In many Chinese-speaking regions, if you order a 'bean' related drink without specifying, you might be offered soy milk, as 豆 is much more closely associated with soy in daily life.
- While 咖啡豆 uses the word for 'bean', the coffee bean is botanically closer to a stone fruit. In many ways, the object is more similar to a peach pit than to the legumes typically described by 豆.
Examples in context
- 这些咖啡豆的味道很香。Zhèxiē kāfēidòu de wèidào hěn xiāng.These coffee beans smell very good.
- 我想买一些新鲜的咖啡豆。Wǒ xiǎng mǎi yìxiē xīnxiān de kāfēidòu.I want to buy some fresh coffee beans.
- 咖啡豆的种类有很多种。Kāfēidòu de zhǒnglèi yǒu hěnduō zhǒng.There are many types of coffee beans.
Example conversation
Jiayi and Wei are at a specialty coffee shop.
- 佳怡 Jiayi伟，你看这些咖啡豆不错。Wěi, nǐ kàn zhèxiē kāfēidòu bùcuò.Wei, look, these coffee beans are pretty good.
- 伟 Wei它们来自哪个国家？Tāmen láizì nǎge guójiā?Which country are they from?
- 佳怡 Jiayi这些是来自埃塞俄比亚的。Zhèxiē shì láizì Āisāi'èóbǐyà de.These are from Ethiopia.
- 伟 Wei太好了，我们买一袋吧。Tài hǎole, wǒmen mǎi yī dài ba.Great, let's buy a bag.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “coffee bean” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
