餐饮业 (cān yǐn yè) — the food and beverage industry, the catering sector

Definition

Refers to the entire food and beverage service industry — restaurants, bars, cafés, and tearooms as a commercial sector, not a single business.

noun
the food and beverage industrythe catering sector

Examples

  • 餐饮业。
    cān yǐn yè Shì chéng shì jīng jì de zhòng yào zǔ chéng bù fen.
    The F&B industry is an important part of the urban economy.
  • 餐饮业。
    Yì qíng duì cān yǐn yè de chōng jī fēi cháng dà.
    The pandemic had a huge impact on the catering industry.
  • 餐饮业。
    Tā zài zhè jiā gōng sī de cān yǐn yè bù mén gōng zuò.
    He works in the F&B division of this company.

Origin

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.

餐饮food and drink
餐cānmeal饮yǐndrink
联合Side by side
业yèindustry

餐饮 (food and drink) says what the 业 (industry) deals in.

Characters in this word

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 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 飲; 饮 is its simplified writing.

  • 酉酉yǒubottle (of alcoholic beverages)
  • 人人rénperson
  • 口口kǒumouth (occasionally with the tongue protruding)

The traditional form 飲 drew a person bending over a bottle to drink, with a mouth and droplets; this picture is about 飲, not the simplified 饮.

Open 饮 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 業; 业 is its simplified writing.

  • 丵丵zhuóchisel
  • 大大dàperson; big

The traditional 業 is explained as a picture of a beam from which bells and chimes hang, or as a person lifting that beam. The simplified 业 is a shorthand, not the original shape.

Open 业 →

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