zongzi
Syllables: zong·zi/ˈtsʊŋˈtsɪ/
zongzi noun: a traditional Chinese dumpling of glutinous rice stuffed with a savoury or sweet filling, wrapped in large flat leaves, and cooked by steaming or boiling.
Noun
zongzi (plural zongzi or zongzis)
- A traditional Chinese dumpling of glutinous rice stuffed with a savoury or sweet filling, wrapped in large flat leaves, and cooked by steaming or boiling.
- The traditional fare around Dragon Boat Festival time is zongzi, pyramids of glutinous rice wrapped in reed leaves. The zongzi, it is said, symbolize the rice that the Miluo River people threw to the fish so that they would leave Qu Yuan's body undisturbed.1953, Department for International Work, All-China Democratic Women's Federation, editor, Women of China, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, →OCLC, page 17, column 2
- The people honor the memory of Qu Yuan on this day by eating Zongzi and holding dragon-boat races. Zongzi are little packets of glutinous rice with jujubes, ham and sweet bean paste added for interest, wrapped in leaves of rushes.1979, China Reconstructs, Beijing: China Welfare Institute, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 49
zongzi meaning in Malay, Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese
zongzi in Malay
- traditional Chinese dumpling of glutinous rice stuffed with a filling
- cang, kuih cang
zongzi in Indonesian
- traditional Chinese dumpling of glutinous rice stuffed with a filling
- bacang, bakcang
zongzi in Thai
- traditional Chinese dumpling of glutinous rice stuffed with a filling
- บ๊ะจ่าง bá-jàang
zongzi in Vietnamese
- traditional Chinese dumpling of glutinous rice stuffed with a filling
- bánh tro, bánh bá trạng
Examples of zongzi in a sentence
- A week or two before the festival, villagers would prepare glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves before cooking, commonly known as zongzi or chang (in Hokkien).2005, Lim Hin Fui, Fong Tian Yong, The New Villages in Malaysia: The Journey Ahead, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Institute of Strategic Analysis...
- Sunny ordered four zongzis or dumplings and, out of tradition, haggled with the woman until they agreed on a price.2011, Daniel Kalla, The Far Side of the Sky: A Novel of Love and Death in Shanghai, Toronto, Ont.: HarperCollins, →ISBN; paperback edition...
Forms of zongzi
| plural | zongzi |
|---|---|
| plural | zongzis |
| alternative form | tsung-tze |
Origin of zongzi
Borrowed from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 粽子 (zòngzi), from 粽 (zòng, “dumpling of glutinous rice wrapped in leaves”) + 子 (zi, diminutive suffix).
Questions about zongzi
- What does zongzi mean?
- Zongzi means a traditional Chinese dumpling of glutinous rice stuffed with a savoury or sweet filling, wrapped in large flat leaves, and cooked by steaming or boiling.
- What is zongzi in Malay?
- Zongzi in Malay is cang, kuih cang. See Zongzi meaning in Malay.
- How do you use zongzi in a sentence?
- A week or two before the festival, villagers would prepare glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves before cooking, commonly known as zongzi or chang (in Hokkien).
- What part of speech is zongzi?
- Zongzi is a noun.
- How do you pronounce zongzi?
- Zongzi is pronounced /ˈtsʊŋˈtsɪ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of zongzi?
- The plural of zongzi is zongzi.
Words near zongzi in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: zongzi (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-zongzi.wav.
Cite this entry: “zongzi.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/zongzi. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.