蜜汁鸡
mìzhījī
The English phrase honey chicken is translated into Chinese as 蜜汁鸡 (mìzhījī).
蜜汁鸡 refers to a dish of chicken cooked in a sweet honey-based sauce.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of 蜜 (honey), 汁 (juice/sauce) and 鸡 (chicken).
Which one should you use?
The standard culinary name for the dish is 蜜汁鸡, but you may also see 蜂蜜鸡, which is a more literal way to say 'honey chicken' by using the full word for honey. If you are specifically referring to bite-sized chunks or nuggets, you can use the informal term 蜜汁鸡块. For honey sauce fried chicken, the informal expression is 蜜汁炸鸡.
How does it change in a sentence?
In Chinese, adding the character 块 (kuài, meaning piece/chunk) after 鸡 is a common way to specify that the dish consists of chicken pieces rather than a whole chicken.
How do you pronounce it?
mìzhījī
Did you know?
- Depending on the region, a dish described as 蜜汁 might be served as a traditional Cantonese roast meat rather than the deep-fried nuggets common in Westernized Chinese cuisine.
- The character 鸡 for 'chicken' is a pictogram that originally looked like a bird.
- While 蜜 means 'honey', in Chinese culinary terms it is often used as a shorthand for any thick, sweet glaze, even if the recipe uses sugar or corn syrup instead of actual honey.
Examples in context
- 咱们今晚吃蜜汁炸鸡怎么样？How about we have honey sauce fried chicken tonight?
- 我今天想吃蜜汁鸡。Wǒ jīntiān xiǎng chī mìzhī jī.I want to eat honey chicken today.
- 这家店的蜜汁鸡很好吃。Zhè jiā diàn de mìzhī jī hěn hǎochī.The honey chicken at this restaurant is delicious.
- 服务员，请给我一份蜜汁鸡。Fúwùyuán, qǐng gěi wǒ yī fèn mìzhī jī.Waiter, please give me one order of honey chicken.
Example conversation
At a Chinese restaurant deciding on a dish.
- 佳怡 Jiayi志强，你觉得蜜汁鸡怎么样？Zhìqiáng, nǐ juédé mìzhī jī zěnmeyàng?Zhiqiang, what do you think of the honey chicken?
- 志强 Zhiqiang我觉得蜜汁鸡很不错。Wǒ juédé mìzhī jī hěn bùcuò.I think the honey chicken is quite good.
- 佳怡 Jiayi那我们就点这份蜜汁鸡吧。Nà wǒmen jiù diǎn zhè fèn mìzhī jī ba.Then let's order this honey chicken.
- 志强 Zhiqiang好的，我也很喜欢吃甜的。Hǎo de, wǒ yě hěn xǐhuān chī tián de.Okay, I also like eating sweet things.
