菠菜
bo¹ coi³
The English word "spinach" is 菠菜 (bo¹ coi³) in Cantonese.
菠菜 refers to the edible plant Spinacia oleracea.
Meaning: a particular edible plant, Spinacia oleracea (noun)
How do you pronounce it?
The romanization is bo¹ coi³.
Did you know?
- The character 菠 is used in the name of 'pineapple' in Cantonese, 菠蘿, showing an unexpected linguistic connection between two very different foods.
- The term 菠菜 is often associated with health-conscious cooking in Cantonese culture, frequently appearing in recipes meant to 'cool' the body.
- The character 菜 in 菠菜 is the same character used for 'dish' or 'cuisine', such as in the word for 'Chinese cuisine', 粵菜.
Examples in context
- 你有冇菠菜呀？Do you have spinach?
- 我哋晚餐煮啲菠菜啦。Let's cook some spinach for dinner.
Example conversation
Two people are shopping for groceries at a wet market.
- 志強 Chi Keung呢啲菠菜係咪好新鮮？ni1 di1 bo1 coi3 hai6 mai6 hou2 san1 sin1?Is this spinach very fresh?
- 曉彤 Hiu Tung係呀，啱啱送到嚟嘅。hai6 aa3, ngaam1 ngaam1 sung3 dou3 lai4 ge3.Yes, it just arrived.
- 志強 Chi Keung咁我想買兩紮菠菜。gam2 ngo5 soeng2 maai5 loeng5 zaat3 bo1 coi3.Then I want to buy two bunches of spinach.
- 曉彤 Hiu Tung好嘅，志強，我幫你包好。hou2 ge3, zi3 koeng4, ngo5 bong1 nei5 baau1 hou2.Okay, Zhiqiang, I'll pack them for you.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “spinach” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
