蔡 (cài): surname Cai

蔡 (cài) is a Chinese character meaning “surname cai.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (structural) and 祭 (structural). It ranks #3203 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. surname Cai

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Practice writing 蔡 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
蔡司公司cài sī gōng sīZeiss Company (Carl Zeiss AG, optical and opto-electronic industries. hq in Oberkochen, Germany)
蔡国强cài guó qiángCai Guoqiang (1957-), contemporary Chinese artist working with firework displays and light shows
蔡英文cài yīng wénTsai Ing-wen (1956–), Taiwanese DPP politician, president of the Republic of China 2016–2024
蔡依林cài yī línJolin Tsai (1980-), Taiwanese singer
上蔡proper-nounshàng càisee 上蔡縣|上蔡县
上蔡县shàng cài xiànShangcai, a county in Zhumadian City 駐馬店市|驻马店市, Henan
新蔡proper-nounxīn càisee 新蔡縣|新蔡县
新蔡县xīn cài xiànXincai, a county in Zhumadian City 駐馬店市|驻马店市, Henan
蔡李佛nouncài lǐ fóChoy Li Fut (Chinese martial art)
蔡元培cài yuán péiCai Yuanpei (1868-1940), educationist and politician, president of Peking University 1917-27
蔡志忠cài zhì zhōngTsai Chih Chung (1948-), famous Taiwanese cartoonist specializing in retelling the Chinese classics
痞子蔡pǐ zi càiRowdy Cai (1969-), Taiwanese Internet writer
蔡东藩cài dōng fānCai Dongfan (1877-1945), historian and historical novelist
蔡伦cài lúnCai Lun (-121), the inventor of the papermaking process
蔡甸区cài diàn qūCaidian, a district of Wuhan City 武漢市|武汉市, Hubei
18
Total compounds
72
As first character
17
As last character
11
As middle character

蔡 appears in 18 compound words: 72 as the first character, 17 as the last, and 11 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 蔡 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

敲qiāo
0.48712 co-occurrences
昌chāng
0.48712 co-occurrences
止zhǐ
0.33613 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

蔡字虽然难写,但意思很有趣。

Cài zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .

Although the character "Cai" is difficult to write, its meaning is quite interesting.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

联发科执行长蔡力行指能源是AI最大限制 台达电再创新高...

lián fā kē zhí háng cháng Cài lì háng zhǐ néng yuán shì A I zuì dà xiàn zhì tái dá diàn zài chuàng xīn gāo . . .

MediaTek CEO Tsai Li-hsing says energy is the biggest constraint on AI; Delta Electronics hits another record high...

LtnFeb 2026

拚民进党新北初选出线 蔡美华邀桃园2绿议员汐止扫街

拚 mín jìn dǎng xīn běi chū xuǎn chū xiàn Cài měi huá yāo táo yuán 2 lǜ yì yuán xī zhǐ sǎo jiē

In a bid to secure the Democratic Progressive Party’s nomination in the New Taipei City primary, Tsai Mei-hua invited two Green Party councilors from Taoyuan to campaign door-to-door in Xizhi

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

联发科董座蔡明介:今年 AI 还是很热 机会很多要持...

lián fā kē dǒng zuò Cài míng jiè : jīn nián A I hái shì hěn rè jī huì hěn duō yāo chí . . .

MediaTek Chairman Tsai Ming-kai: AI Remains a Hot Topic This Year; There Are Many Opportunities, So We Should...

中時新聞網Feb 2026

...坛》从自卫权到制天权 中日低轨卫星叫阵(蔡炫)

. . . tán cóng zì wèi quán dào zhì tiān quán zhōng rì dī guǐ wèi xīng jiào zhèn ( Cài xuàn )

...Forum: From the Right to Self-Defense to the Right to Control Space—China and Japan Lock Horns Over Low-Earth Orbit Satellites (Cai Xuan)

風傳媒Feb 2026

川普临时关税恐也被推翻?蔡正元指法院敲响政权丧钟:期中选举一定大败

chuān pǔ lín shí guān shuì kǒng yě bèi tuī fān ? Cài zhèng yuán zhǐ fǎ yuàn qiāo xiǎng zhèng quán sāng zhōng : qī zhōng xuǎn jǔ yī dìng dà bài

Could Trump’s temporary tariffs also be overturned? Tsai Cheng-yuan says the court has sounded the death knell for the administration: A crushing defeat in the midterm elections is inevitable

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 蔡 (cài) mean in Chinese?
蔡 (cài) primarily means "surname cai." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3203 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 蔡 have?
蔡 is written with 14 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 蔡?
The radical associated with 蔡 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 蔡?
蔡 is composed of: 艹 (structural), 祭 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹祭 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 蔡?
Common words with 蔡 include: 蔡司公司 (cài sī gōng sī, "Zeiss Company (Carl Zeiss AG, optical and opto-electronic industries. hq in Oberkochen, Germany)"); 蔡国强 (cài guó qiáng, "Cai Guoqiang (1957-), contemporary Chinese artist working with firework displays and light shows"); 蔡英文 (cài yīng wén, "Tsai Ing-wen (1956–), Taiwanese DPP politician, president of the Republic of China 2016–2024"); 蔡依林 (cài yī lín, "Jolin Tsai (1980-), Taiwanese singer"); 上蔡 (shàng cài, "see 上蔡縣|上蔡县"). There are over 18 compound words containing this character.
Is 蔡 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 蔡 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 蔡 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.