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进餐 (jìn cān) — to have a meal (formal/literary)

Definition

A formal, written way to say 'have a meal' — the same idea as 吃饭 but much more elevated in register.

verb
to have a meal (formal/literary)

Examples

  • 进餐。
    Qǐng nín dào cān tīng jìn cān.
    Please come to the dining room to have your meal.
  • 。
    Wǒ men jīn wǎn jìn yí cì cān ba.
    Let's have a meal together tonight.
  • 。
    Kè rén yǐ jīng jìn guò cān le.
    The guests have already had their meal.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

进jìnenter
餐cānmeal

进 carries the action of taking or entering, and 餐 is a meal, so the word means to have a meal.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 進; 进 is its simplified writing.

  • 辵辵chuòwalk
  • 隹隹zhuīshort-tail bird

The traditional form 進 pairs 辵 (walk) with 隹 (short-tail bird): the picture showed moving forward because a bird can only walk forward, not backward. The simplified 进 is a later shorthand.

Open 进 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
食食shíto eat; meal; food
Sound part声符shēngfú
𣦼
𣦼𣦼餐cān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

餐 combines 食, meaning food or eating, with 𣦼 as the sound part; it originally meant “to swallow.”

Open 餐 →
Appears in
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