Meanings
nounchoy sum (uncountable)
alternative choi sum
- uncountableA Chinese vegetable, a variety of Brassica rapa parachinensis subspecies, similar to bok choy but slimmer, with smooth green leaves and pale green stems, and clusters of flowers on the tips of the inner shoots.
Added the chopped choy sum and stir it to release any excess water as steam. As the choy sum loses its water, add the chili and a good pinch of salt.
2013, Fuchsia Dunlop, “Stir-fried chopped choy sum”, in Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 178Synonyms: Chinese flowering cabbage, caixin, yu choy, yau choy
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Cantonese菜心
- Englishchoy sum
Borrowed from Cantonese 菜心 (coi3 sam1, literally “vegetable heart”). Doublet of caixin.
More words from Cantonese
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Cantonese 菜心
- 菜心 (coi³ sam¹)vegetable
Chinese Mandarin 菜心, 菜薹
- 菜心 (càixīn)vegetable
- 菜薹 (càitái)vegetable
Finnish sellerikaali
- sellerikaalivegetable
Indonesian sawi hijau, caisim
- sawi hijauvegetable
- caisimvegetable
Japanese 菜心
- 菜心 (saishin)vegetable
Korean 채심
- 채심 (chaesim)vegetable
Vietnamese cải ngồng
- cải ngồngvegetable
Cite this entry
APA
choy sum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/choy%20sum
MLA
“choy sum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/choy%20sum. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “choy sum,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/choy%20sum.
Source: choy sum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.