Where the name comes from
The name comes from the state of Cai, granted around 1046 BC to Ji Du, a son of King Wen of Zhou, who was styled Cai Shu Du ("Uncle Du of Cai"); its centre was at modern Shangcai, Zhumadian, in Henan. Chu conquered Cai in 447 BC and its people carried the state's name onward as a surname. Two later movements shaped where the name sits today: the clan migrated into Guangdong and Fujian during the Huang Chao rebellion from AD 875, and in the 17th century Koxinga moved Cai military officials and their families to Taiwan.
The same name, spelled differently
A Chinese surname is a character, not a spelling. The Latin letters on a passport come from whichever dialect the name was written down from — so these are all 蔡.
- CaiMandarin — mainland China, Taiwan
- Choi / Choy / TsoiCantonese — Hong Kong, Macau
- ChuaHokkien and Teochew — Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines
- ChuahHokkien — Malaysia
- ChaiHakka — Malaysia
- Toy / ToiTaishanese
- TháiVietnamese
- TsaiWade–Giles — Taiwan
The character
Outside a name, 蔡 is an ordinary word meaning a species of tortoise.
- Strokes
- 14
- Radical
- 艹
- As a word
- cài