noun HSK 4
Traditional 廚
kitchen · cook · chef
Meaning
厨 refers to a kitchen or cooking area, and by extension can also mean a cook or chef. It's commonly seen as part of compound words rather than used alone in modern Mandarin. The character itself depicts a room or building where food preparation takes place.
Usage
In contemporary spoken Mandarin, 厨 rarely appears by itself. It's almost always part of compounds like 厨房 (kitchen), 厨师 (chef), or 下厨 (to cook). When alone, it's more literary or used in specific contexts like restaurant names.
Examples
- 01他的厨艺很好，经常下厨做饭。, .His cooking skills are very good; he often cooks meals.
- 02这家餐厅的主厨是法国人。.This restaurant's head chef is French.
Common collocations
- 厨房kitchen
- 厨师chef
- 下厨to cook
- 厨艺cooking skills
Origin
The traditional form 廚 contains the radical 广 (roof/building) and components suggesting a dwelling place. It originally depicted a storage room for food that evolved to mean the cooking area.