白米饭 (bái mǐ fàn) — cooked white rice

Definition

noun

cooked white rice

Measure word · 碗

白米饭，。
Jīn tiān wǎn fàn wǒ zhī xiǎng chī yì wǎn bái mǐ fàn, bù xū yào cài.
For dinner tonight I only want a bowl of white rice, no dishes needed.
白米饭，。
Nán fāng rén xí guàn yòng wǎn shèng bái mǐ fàn, běi fāng rén zé duō yòng pán zi.
Southerners are used to serving white rice in bowls, while northerners more often use plates.
白米饭，。
Zhè zhǒng diàn fàn bāo zhǔ chū lái de bái mǐ fàn lì lì fēn míng, hěn yǒu jiáo jìn.
The white rice cooked in this rice cooker comes out with every grain distinct and very chewy.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

白米white rice

偏正Modifier + head

饭fàncooked food

From 白, 米, and 饭: cooked food made from white rice.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

白 is thought to picture either an acorn or a human head.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

米 is a picture of rice kernels without husk, with the horizontal stroke as a bamboo sieve. It is unrelated to similar-looking grain characters.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 飯; 饭 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

反

Same sound today

The traditional form 飯 combines 食 (food) with 反 for the sound; the simplified 饭 is a shorthand, so its parts are not the historical form.