<p>In Standard Chinese, 肉 means any kinds of meat, while 猪肉 means pork. This is technically correct in the standard expression.</p>

<p>However, in colloquial Chinese, unprefixed 肉 usually means pork, except in the “halal menu”. It is true in 99.9% of the situation.</p>

<p>If you are writing legal documents or contracts, use 猪肉 to refer to pork. Otherwise, just use unprefixed 肉 for pork.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-17T01:08:21.750Z
2019-01-17T17:00:14.103Z
2019-01-17T17:00:14.103Z
Victor
<p>For Hans culture(in fact, there is no such things as Hans ethnics) ,  肉 usually means pork. If you look at the glphy 家 （family), the script below is a PIG 豕, origin from the oracle glyph.  Because all food waste can be used to feed pigs. </p>

<p>Historically,  cow is important to agriculture, there are era that forbids people from eating cow and death penalty is imposed (to prevent people stealing cow and slaughtering cow with various excuses) .  </p>

<p>Herding tribe in the Northen China don't rear pig, they either eat goats/sheeps, cows or horses. When adapting the Hans culture glyph, those culture will explicit specify the type of meat they are eating in mandarin language. </p>

<p>However, depends on popularity of particular food, when time pass, people simply omitted the type of meat name.  e.g. 兰州拉面 original called 兰州牛肉拉面. Because it is a well know beef noodles dishes, everybody knows you will not find pork inside 兰州拉面. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-21T15:49:29.837Z
2019-01-21T15:49:29.837Z
mootmoot
<p>I would say 99% of time it is true.  However, it is always better to verify with the waitress if you're not certain.  For example:</p>

<pre><code>肉捲 - meat roll  
碎肉 - mince meat
</code></pre>

<p>While mostly are pork and does not have a different animal mentioned, it could be other meat such as beef / chicken.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-16T23:21:51.187Z
I was a waiter, if you don't state what specific kind of 肉 when you said 肉捲 or 碎肉, I would presume you meant 'pork'
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-17T23:02:49.723Z
@TangHo That's good for you, but i had a restaurant that provided beef for meat roll, simply because it is the restaurant's default choice of meat for meatroll
Alex
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-16T23:06:09.033Z
2019-01-16T23:06:09.033Z
Alex
<p>I worked in restaurants for many years. As I understand it, '肉' in Chinese menus only refers to pork unless it is specifically stated what kind of meat it is.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>時菜炒（豬）肉片 = in-season vegetable stir-fry pork slice</p></li>
<li><p>時菜炒牛肉 = in-season vegetable stir-fry beef</p></li>
<li><p>（豬）肉絲湯麵 = shredded pork noodle soup</p></li>
<li><p>雞絲湯麵 = shredded chicken meat noodle soup</p></li>
</ul>

<p>(豬) is omitted most of the time because when no specific is given, it is the default meat.</p>

<p>But there are always exceptions:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Since the most common meat you see in 夹馍 are 羊肉 (mutton) or 牛肉 (beef), even when people reduce 羊肉夹馍 or 牛肉夹馍 to '肉夹馍', '肉' still refers to mutton or beef</p></li>
<li><p>If it is 清真食物 (Halal food) menus, you can be sure 肉 on the menus are not pork but mutton or beef instead</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Outside of menus, 肉 can refer to any kind of meat, for example: 肉 in "大魚大肉" or "有酒有肉" does not refer to a specific meat.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-01T05:00:01.490Z
AFAIK, 肉夹馍 is actually almost always pork by default, at least in Shaanxi (which is the province most commonly associated with 肉夹馍). Of course, unless you are in the Muslim Quarter (回民街) in Xi'an, where it would definitely be beef :-)
xuq01
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-16T23:09:12.243Z
2019-01-20T15:24:53.987Z
2019-01-20T15:24:53.987Z
Tang Ho
<p>红烧肉、回锅肉、芹菜炒肉，肉夹馍……</p>

<p>Without the name of a different animal mentioned before 肉 (such as 孜然羊肉), does the word 肉 always mean "pork" without any exception?</p>

<p><strong>Edit:</strong></p>

<p>I have found the following counterexample:</p>

<p>See L21 below; 肉丝 could be beef or pork.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/50uBU.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/50uBU.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-16T23:11:01.867Z
see online dictionaries, e.g. bkrs:肉 meat
flesh
pulp (of a fruit) (2) 指供食用的动物肉
  牛肉  猪肉  鸡肉  鱼肉  吃肉  eat meat  
肉汤 meat bouillon (soup), iciba likewise provides no evidence for default meaning pork
user6065
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-16T23:13:11.333Z
@user6065  you said "no evidence for default meaning pork " but it is the default when it is on Chinese menus
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-17T01:45:52.347Z
Interesting question. +1 for the cultural insight. Thank you.
Enrico Brasil
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-29T04:03:30.937Z
Another interesting angle would be in Chinese muslim restaurants operated by Hui or Uyghur minorities. But from memory those always write whether it's mutton or beef.
hippietrail
<meaning><meaning-in-context><food><terminology>
Does the word 肉 always mean pork (unless preceded by another word which means a different animal) in Chinese menus?
# Does the word 肉 always mean pork (unless preceded by another word which means a different animal) in Chinese menus?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-01-16)

红烧肉、回锅肉、芹菜炒肉，肉夹馍……

Without the name of a different animal mentioned before 肉 (such as 孜然羊肉), does the word 肉 always mean "pork" without any exception?

**Edit:**

I have found the following counterexample:

See L21 below; 肉丝 could be beef or pork.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/50uBU.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/50uBU.jpg)

**Tags:** meaning, meaning-in-context, food, terminology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: see online dictionaries, e.g. bkrs:肉 meat flesh pulp (of a fruit) (2) 指供食用的动物肉   牛肉  猪肉  鸡肉  鱼肉  吃肉  eat meat   肉汤 meat bouillon (soup), iciba likewise provides no evidence for default meaning pork  
> **username_2**: @username_1  you said "no evidence for default meaning pork " but it is the default when it is on Chinese menus  
> **username_3**: Interesting question. +1 for the cultural insight. Thank you.  
> **username_4**: Another interesting angle would be in Chinese muslim restaurants operated by Hui or Uyghur minorities. But from memory those always write whether it's mutton or beef.  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-01-16. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

I worked in restaurants for many years. As I understand it, '肉' in Chinese menus only refers to pork unless it is specifically stated what kind of meat it is.

For example:

* 時菜炒（豬）肉片 = in-season vegetable stir-fry pork slice
* 時菜炒牛肉 = in-season vegetable stir-fry beef
* （豬）肉絲湯麵 = shredded pork noodle soup
* 雞絲湯麵 = shredded chicken meat noodle soup

(豬) is omitted most of the time because when no specific is given, it is the default meat.

But there are always exceptions:

* Since the most common meat you see in 夹馍 are 羊肉 (mutton) or 牛肉 (beef), even when people reduce 羊肉夹馍 or 牛肉夹馍 to '肉夹馍', '肉' still refers to mutton or beef
* If it is 清真食物 (Halal food) menus, you can be sure 肉 on the menus are not pork but mutton or beef instead

Outside of menus, 肉 can refer to any kind of meat, for example: 肉 in "大魚大肉" or "有酒有肉" does not refer to a specific meat.

> **Comments:**
> **username_8**: AFAIK, 肉夹馍 is actually almost always pork by default, at least in Shaanxi (which is the province most commonly associated with 肉夹馍). Of course, unless you are in the Muslim Quarter (回民街) in Xi'an, where it would definitely be beef :-)  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2019-01-17. Score: 4

In Standard Chinese, 肉 means any kinds of meat, while 猪肉 means pork. This is technically correct in the standard expression.

However, in colloquial Chinese, unprefixed 肉 usually means pork, except in the “halal menu”. It is true in 99.9% of the situation.

If you are writing legal documents or contracts, use 猪肉 to refer to pork. Otherwise, just use unprefixed 肉 for pork.


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2019-01-21. Score: 2

For Hans culture(in fact, there is no such things as Hans ethnics) , 肉 usually means pork. If you look at the glphy 家 （family), the script below is a PIG 豕, origin from the oracle glyph. Because all food waste can be used to feed pigs.

Historically, cow is important to agriculture, there are era that forbids people from eating cow and death penalty is imposed (to prevent people stealing cow and slaughtering cow with various excuses) .

Herding tribe in the Northen China don't rear pig, they either eat goats/sheeps, cows or horses. When adapting the Hans culture glyph, those culture will explicit specify the type of meat they are eating in mandarin language.

However, depends on popularity of particular food, when time pass, people simply omitted the type of meat name. e.g. 兰州拉面 original called 兰州牛肉拉面. Because it is a well know beef noodles dishes, everybody knows you will not find pork inside 兰州拉面.


---

### Answer by username_7 on 2019-01-16. Score: 1

I would say 99% of time it is true. However, it is always better to verify with the waitress if you're not certain. For example:

```
肉捲 - meat roll  
碎肉 - mince meat

```

While mostly are pork and does not have a different animal mentioned, it could be other meat such as beef / chicken.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: I was a waiter, if you don't state what specific kind of 肉 when you said 肉捲 or 碎肉, I would presume you meant 'pork'  
> **username_7**: @username_2 That's good for you, but i had a restaurant that provided beef for meat roll, simply because it is the restaurant's default choice of meat for meatroll  

---

