小 菜 一 碟

xiǎo cài yī diédictionary entry

a small appetizer / a piece of cake / very easy (idiom)

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-440f27958be5ae99. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

小菜一碟小菜一碟 [xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2] /a small appetizer/a piece of cake; very easy (idiom)/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

小
xiǎo
small / tiny / few / young
菜
cài
vegetable / greens (CL:棵[kē]) / dish (of food) (CL:樣|样[yàng],道[dào],盤|盘[pán]) / (of one's skills etc) weak / poor / (coll.) (one's) type
一
yī
one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire / whole / all / throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yāo] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit
碟
dié
dish / plate

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.