厨房
kitchen
chúfáng
What does 厨房 mean?
厨房 (chúfáng) is the Chinese word for 'kitchen' — the room in a home or restaurant where food is prepared and cooked. The character 厨 means 'cooking / kitchen' and 房 means 'room,' so literally 'cooking room.' It is the everyday, neutral word — there is no separate casual or formal alternative.
Two notes for English speakers: first, in Chinese, 厨房 is described with 间 (jiān, the measure word for rooms) when counting (一间厨房, 'one kitchen'), although 个 also works in casual speech. Second, related cooking vocabulary clusters around 厨房: 厨师 (chúshī, chef), 下厨 (xiàchú, to cook / 'enter the kitchen'), and 厨具 (chújù, kitchenware). If you can cook, Chinese speakers often praise you as 厨艺好 (chúyì hǎo, good cooking skill).
Character breakdown
kitchen; cook
room; house
Memory hook: 厨 (cook) + 房 (room) = the room where you cook.
Measure word for 厨房
Example sentences
妈妈在厨房做饭。
Māma zài chúfáng zuòfàn.
Mom is cooking in the kitchen.
spoken
我家的厨房不大，但是很干净。
Wǒ jiā de chúfáng bú dà, dànshì hěn gānjìng.
My family's kitchen isn't big, but it's very clean.
neutral
他每天晚上都在厨房洗碗。
Tā měi tiān wǎnshang dōu zài chúfáng xǐ wǎn.
He washes the dishes in the kitchen every evening.
neutral
新房子有一个很大的厨房。
Xīn fángzi yǒu yí gè hěn dà de chúfáng.
The new house has a very big kitchen.
neutral
Common phrases with 厨房
Don't confuse 厨房 with
厨师 is a 'chef / cook' — a person. 厨房 is the kitchen — the room. A 厨师 works in the 厨房.
房间 is a generic 'room' (often a bedroom in casual speech). 厨房 specifically means the kitchen. They share the character 房 but are not interchangeable.
餐厅 is the dining room (in a home) or a restaurant. 厨房 is where the food is cooked; 餐厅