Chinese Vocabulary for the Market: Fruits, Vegetables, and Paying

By Merry Mandarin Team · Published September 4, 2026 · 5 min read

Most food-vocabulary lists teach you dish names, the things a menu hands you already cooked. This one is earlier in the process: the fruit stand, the vegetable stall, and the moment you actually pay for what you picked out. It’s the vocabulary for 买菜 (mǎicài), the everyday errand of going to buy groceries, not the vocabulary for eating them.

Fruit

Illustration of an apple, the Chinese word 苹果 (píngguǒ) — 苹果 píngguǒ apple

Illustration of a banana, the Chinese word 香蕉 (xiāngjiāo) — 香蕉 xiāngjiāo banana

Illustration of grapes, the Chinese word 葡萄 (pútáo) — 葡萄 pútáo grape

Illustration of a lemon, the Chinese word 柠檬 (níngméng) — 柠檬 níngméng lemon

Illustration of lychee, the Chinese word 荔枝 (lìzhī) — 荔枝 lìzhī lychee

Illustration of a peach, the Chinese word 桃子 (táozi) — 桃子 táozi peach

Illustration of a pineapple, the Chinese word 凤梨 (fènglí) — 凤梨 fènglí pineapple

Illustration of a strawberry, the Chinese word 草莓 (cǎoméi) — 草莓 cǎoméi strawberry

Illustration of a watermelon, the Chinese word 西瓜 (xīguā) — 西瓜 xīguā watermelon

凤梨 is the word used throughout this article, and across Taiwan generally. On the mainland and across most of the south you’ll more often hear 菠萝 (bōluó), same fruit, a genuinely different word, not a regional accent on the same one.

Vegetables

Illustration of a tomato, the Chinese word 番茄 (fānqié) — 番茄 fānqié tomato

Illustration of garlic, the Chinese word 大蒜 (dàsuàn) — 大蒜 dàsuàn garlic

Illustration of ginger, the Chinese word 姜 (jiāng) — 姜 jiāng ginger

Illustration of a cucumber, the Chinese word 黄瓜 (huángguā) — 黄瓜 huángguā cucumber

Illustration of an eggplant, the Chinese word 茄子 (qiézi) — 茄子 qiézi eggplant

Illustration of a carrot, the Chinese word 胡萝卜 (húluóbo) — 胡萝卜 húluóbo carrot

Illustration of a mushroom, the Chinese word 蘑菇 (mógu) — 蘑菇 mógu mushroom

Illustration of corn, the Chinese word 玉米 (yùmǐ) — 玉米 yùmǐ corn

Illustration of a chili pepper, the Chinese word 辣椒 (làjiāo) — 辣椒 làjiāo chili pepper

番茄 is a small flag for something bigger: it’s the southern, Cantonese-influenced word for tomato, and it’s the one used in this article on purpose, the same choice this site makes throughout its own Chinese content. The more northern 西红柿 (xīhóngshì) is just as correct. Both are correct. You’ll hear either depending on where you are.

At the register

Illustration of a market stall, the Chinese word 市场 (shìchǎng) — 市场 shìchǎng market

Illustration of a shop, the Chinese word 商店 (shāngdiàn) — 商店 shāngdiàn shop, store

Illustration of a basket, the Chinese word 篮子 (lánzi) — 篮子 lánzi basket

Illustration of a plastic bag, the Chinese word 塑料袋 (sùliàodài) — 塑料袋 sùliàodài plastic bag

Illustration of a label, the Chinese word 标签 (biāoqiān) — 标签 biāoqiān label

Illustration of a receipt, the Chinese word 收据 (shōujù) — 收据 shōujù receipt

Illustration of money, the Chinese word 钱 (qián) — 钱 qián money

Illustration of a cash register, the Chinese word 收银台 (shōuyíntái) — 收银台 shōuyíntái checkout counter, cash register

Illustration of a wallet, the Chinese word 钱包 (qiánbāo) — 钱包 qiánbāo wallet

市场 and 商店 aren’t interchangeable, and the difference matters for what happens next. 市场 is an open-air or wet market, stalls, weighed produce, and prices that move. 商店 is a regular shop with fixed prices on the tag. What you can actually say to the person selling to you depends entirely on which one you’re standing in.

What to actually say

多少钱

duōshǎo qián

how much does it cost, the question that opens almost every transaction

便宜

piányi

cheap, inexpensive

贵

guì

expensive

新鲜

xīnxian

fresh, the word you actually check for before buying produce

称

chēng

to weigh, what a vendor does with your produce before naming a price

便宜 does real work at a 市场 that it can’t do at a 商店. Asking a vendor to knock the price down a little, 便宜一点 (piányi yìdiǎn), is a completely normal part of buying produce at an open-air market and is expected as part of the exchange. Try that at a supermarket checkout and it lands as a strange, slightly awkward request, since the price on the tag there isn’t a starting offer.

Using this at an actual market

None of this needs a special trip to be useful. 多少钱 and 新鲜 work the same way whether you’re standing at a stall this weekend or just running through the words in your head. The nine fruits, nine vegetables, and nine market-and-paying words above cover the actual shape of a grocery run, from picking something up to walking out with it.

Merry Mandarin’s FSRS-5 review engine drills vocabulary like this against real sentence patterns, so 便宜一点 turns into something you can actually say the next time a vendor names a price. Free to try.

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Chinese Vocabulary for the Market: Fruits, Vegetables, and Paying

Fruit

Vegetables

At the register

What to actually say

Using this at an actual market

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