点心

• Pinyin: diǎn xin
• Hanzi breakdown: 点 = 黑 + 占 (a touch, a bit); 心 = pictograph of a heart (heart, mind)

Meaning

Dim sum; pastries; light snacks. Small bite-sized food items typically served as snacks or alongside tea.

Refers both to Cantonese-style dim sum (茶楼点心) and more broadly to various Chinese pastries and snacks. The term spans contexts from upscale dim sum restaurants to homemade treats. 茶点 is a near-synonym but emphasises accompaniment with tea.

Examples

1. 广式茶楼每逢周末便座无虚席，食客们在品茗闲谈之余，共享各式精致点心。 On weekends, Cantonese tea houses are packed; as people sip tea and chat, they share all kinds of delicate dim sum.
2. 她特意前往老字号糕点店，为即将到来的中秋聚会采购了一盒精心制作的传统点心。 She made a special trip to a time-honored pastry shop to buy a box of carefully made traditional pastries for the upcoming Mid-Autumn gathering.
3. 这家五星级酒店的下午茶以其造型别致、口味多样的西式点心而广受本地食客和游客的好评。 This five-star hotel’s afternoon tea is widely praised by locals and tourists for its beautifully shaped, varied Western-style pastries.

Usage Guide

Context: food culture, dining, hospitality, everyday speech

Tone: warm

Do Say

• 逢年过节，长辈们总会提前几天备好各式传统点心，等待子孙归来时一同享用，寄托着家人相聚的温情与期盼。(During the New Year and other festivals, elders always prepare various traditional pastries a few days in advance, waiting for their children and grandchildren to return so they can enjoy them together — expressing the warmth and anticipation of family reunion.)
• 那家藏于老街深处的点心铺，以祖传秘方制作的流心奶黄酥远近闻名，每逢开门前便已大排长龙。(The dim sum shop tucked in the depths of an old street is renowned far and wide for its molten custard pastries made from an ancestral secret recipe, with long queues forming even before it opens.)

Don't Say

• 点心小吃 — not wrong but often redundant in context; 点心 is more refined and specific; 小吃 is a broader, more casual term for street snacks

Origin & History

点 (a little, a touch) + 心 (heart) — 'touching the heart' with a small treat; historically referred to a light touch of food to ward off hunger

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal