‘Shípǔ’ literally means ‘food chart’ or ‘food record’: 食 (shí) means ‘food’ or ‘to eat’, and 谱 (pǔ) means ‘chart’, ‘register’, or ‘systematic record’—as in 乐谱 (yuèpǔ, musical score) or 家谱 (jiāpǔ, family tree). Together, they refer to a written or printed set of instructions for preparing a dish, including ingredients, quantities, and step-by-step cooking methods.

This word is commonly used in everyday contexts—such as cooking blogs, cookbooks, kitchen apps, and home kitchens—and carries a neutral, practical tone. While it can refer to traditional or regional dishes, it’s not limited to Chinese cuisine; modern usage includes international recipes too. It’s a compound noun that functions as a countable noun (e.g., 一份食谱, yī fèn shípǔ, ‘a recipe’), and is rarely used in spoken casual speech without modifiers like 这个 (zhège, ‘this’) or 网上 (wǎngshàng, ‘online’).