<p>It seems that 蔬 comes from 疏. 疏食 means &quot;coarse food&quot; (unpolished cereals and vegetables). Later, 艹 was added to 疏 to refer to vegetables specifically. I guess that' why the characer 蔬 does not form many words.</p>
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CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-03-26T12:40:24.060Z
2022-03-26T12:40:24.060Z
Betty
<p>Looks like the earliest use of 疏菜 can be traced back to &quot;疏 - <strong>周</strong>礼太宰注 疏菜也&quot;. <a href="https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%94%AC/6708649" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%94%AC/6708649</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-03-25T18:24:26.173Z
2022-03-25T18:24:26.173Z
r13
<p>In short,蔬 means wide variety and 菜 means it's eatable.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-03-26T07:41:09.913Z
2022-03-26T07:41:09.913Z
Fly www
<p>How old is the usage of 蔬菜 to mean vegetables? Did it used to be only 蔬？Or only 菜？ I can't find any other usage of 蔬 (other than things like 果蔬， where 蔬 seems to be just a stand in for 蔬菜）, whereas 菜 is a much more productive and free morpheme. What meaning can 蔬 be said to have by itself?</p>

<etymology><morphology>
What is the etymology of 蔬菜？
# What is the etymology of 蔬菜？

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-03-25)

How old is the usage of 蔬菜 to mean vegetables? Did it used to be only 蔬？Or only 菜？ I can't find any other usage of 蔬 (other than things like 果蔬， where 蔬 seems to be just a stand in for 蔬菜）, whereas 菜 is a much more productive and free morpheme. What meaning can 蔬 be said to have by itself?

**Tags:** etymology, morphology


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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-03-26. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

It seems that 蔬 comes from 疏. 疏食 means "coarse food" (unpolished cereals and vegetables). Later, 艹 was added to 疏 to refer to vegetables specifically. I guess that' why the characer 蔬 does not form many words.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/qT0to.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/qT0to.png)
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/pUwTe.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/pUwTe.png)


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### Answer by username_2 on 2022-03-25. Score: 1

Looks like the earliest use of 疏菜 can be traced back to "疏 - **周**礼太宰注 疏菜也". <https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%94%AC/6708649>


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### Answer by username_3 on 2022-03-26. Score: -1

In short,蔬 means wide variety and 菜 means it's eatable.


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