美食
měishí
In Chinese, "delicious food" is translated as 美食 (měishí).
美食 refers to gourmet food, culinary delicacies or high-quality food that tastes very good. It is often used in the context of food culture, gourmet dining or as a title for food programs, rather than as a casual reaction to a single bite of food.
What does it mean word for word?
The term 美食 is composed of 美, meaning beautiful or fine and 食, meaning food or to eat.
Which one should you use?
While 美食 is a noun referring to the concept of fine food or delicacies, if you want to describe a specific dish as being delicious, you would typically use the adjective 好吃 (hǎochī).
How do you pronounce it?
měishí
Did you know?
- The concept of 美食 is deeply tied to the balance of 'color, aroma, and taste', known as 色香味 (sè xiāng wèi). A dish is not truly 美食 if it lacks any of these three elements.
- The character 美 in 美食 is the same one used in the name for 'America' (美国), which literally means 'Beautiful Country'.
- In some regions, people describe food as delicious by saying it is 'very fragrant' (很香) instead of using the words for 'good' or 'beautiful'.
Examples in context
- 这家餐厅的菜肴都是地道的中国美食。The dishes in this restaurant are all authentic Chinese gourmet food.
- 汉堡真是太好吃了！The hamburger is really delicious!
- 这碗拉面太美味了！This bowl of ramen is so delicious!
- 这道菜很好吃！This dish is delicious!
- 这里的美食很多。zhèlǐ de měishí hěnduō.There is a lot of delicious food here.
- 我喜欢去寻找美食。wǒ xǐhuān qù xúnzhǎo měishí.I like to go searching for delicious food.
- 这座城市有很多美食。zhè zuò chéngshì yǒu hěnduō měishí.This city has a lot of delicious food.
Example conversation
Zhiqiang and Xiaowen are walking through a night market.
- 志强 Zhiqiang晓雯，你看这里有多少美食！Xiǎowén, nǐ kàn zhèlǐ yǒu duōshǎo měishí!Xiaowen, look how much delicious food is here!
- 晓雯 Xiaowen真的，我全都想尝尝。Zhēnde, wǒ quándōu xiǎng chángchang.Really, I want to taste all of it.
- 志强 Zhiqiang我们先买这个吧。Wǒmen xiān mǎi zhège ba.Let's buy this one first.
- 晓雯 Xiaowen好，快点去排队。Hǎo, kuàidiǎn qù páiduì.Okay, let's go line up quickly.
