韭菜 (jiǔcài) · Chinese chives, garlic chives

Meanings

1 Chinese chives
2 garlic chives
3 naive retail investors or consumers repeatedly exploited for profit

About the ingredient

蔬菜 Vegetables

Flat, grass-like green leaves with a strong garlicky taste. Chopped with egg, shrimp or pork into dumpling fillings and chive pockets, or stir-fried with egg.

Also called 韭

Used in 9 dishes

韭菜炒鸡蛋 jiǔcài chǎo jīdàn

豉油皇炒面 chǐyóuhuáng chǎomiàn

韭菜炒河虾 jiǔcài chǎo héxiā

Characters

Examples

HSK 6

韭菜鸡蛋是家常菜。

Jiǔcài jīdàn shì jiāchángcài.

Chives and eggs is a common home-cooked dish.

HSK 6

股市里的散户常被称为韭菜。

Gǔshì lǐ de sǎnhù cháng bèi chēngwéi jiǔcài.

Retail investors in the stock market are often called "chives."

Tips

culture

In recent Chinese internet slang, 割韭菜 ('cutting chives') describes how big players repeatedly fleece ordinary investors or consumers - chives are famous for growing back quickly after being cut, so the harvest is endless. 韭菜 has become the standard metaphor for easily-exploited small fish.